^^^^ ^ 



THE LIFE 



OF 



James Gillespie Blaine. 



BY 



JOHN H LANDIS 



ISRAEL SMITH CLARE. 




LANCASTER, PA.. . 

THE NEW ERA PRINTING HOUSE. 
1884. 



THE YOUNG MEN OF THE COUNTRY, 

WHO ARE WILLING TO DEVOTE THEIR BEST ENERGIES 
IN ADVANCING THE CAUSE FOR WHICH 
JAMES A. GARFIELD DIED. 



Copyrighted by 
Joiix H. Landts, 

ISS4. 



CONTENTS. iii. 



Table of Contents : 



PAGE. 

Early Life and Ancestry, . . 5 

Blaine in Maine, 9 

Career in Congress, 10 

Speech on Beflections hy Hon. 8. S. Cox, 11 

RemarTcs on Fishing Bounties, 12 

Bemarks on Maine's Loyalty, 12 

Bemarks on Conscription Bill, 13 

Bemarks on Protection, 16 

^'What the Government Owes Bs Subjects .... 16 

Bemarks on General Grant, 17 

Speaker of the House, 18 

Address on Being Elected Speaker, 18 

Besolution hy Hon, 8. S. Cox, 19 

Address on Adjourning the House, 20 

Address on Being Be-Elected Speaker, 21 

Colloquy with Hon, B, R Butler, 22 

Besolution by Hon. S, J. Bandall, 28 

Address on ^'Credit Mobilier,^^ 29 

Besolution on the Same, 31 

Besolution by Hon, D. W, Yoorhees, 31 

Address on Adjourning the House, 32 

Address on Being Be-Elected Speaker, 33 

Address on the Visit of the Hawaiian King, .... 31 

Besolution by Hon, Clarkson N, Potter, 35 

Address on Adjourning the House, 36 

Again on the Floor of the House, 37 

Speech on the Amnesty Bill, 38 

Colloquy with Hon. Benjamin H. Hill, 55 

Bemarks on Biders on Appropriation Bills, .... 57 

Bemarks Against Contributing to Election Funds, . . 58 

Bemarks on the Same Bill, 56 



iv. CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

National Republican Contention of 1876, 60 

In the United States Senate, 65 

Speech Against the Electoral Commission, 65 

Propositions on Silver Coinage, 68 

Speech on the Silver Question, 69 

Speech on the Currency ( at Biddeford, Maine), ... 71 

Speech on the Black Man''s Bights, 75 

Besolutions Against Changes in the Tariff, 86 

Colloquy with Senator Beck, 87 

Speech on Arrears of Pensions, 95 

Speech on Army Appropriation Bill, 100 

Speech to Neio York Merchants ( in Neio York City), . 128 

Eulogy on Senator Chandler, 163 

Republican National Contention of 1880, 171 

Secretary of State, 187 

Oration on Garfield, 188 



JAMES GILLESPIE BLAINE. 



EARLY LIFE AND ANCESTRY. 

JAMES GILLESPIE BLAINE was born January 
31, 1830, at the Indian Hill Farm, Washington 
county, Pennsylvania, opposite the town of Browns- 
ville. The old stone house in which he was born 
is yet standing, and is now included within the limits 
of West Brownsville — though at the time of his birth 
it was only the mansion house of the Gillespie farm. 
The house was erected by Mrs. Blaine's great-grand- 
father, the elder Neal Gillespie, in 11^18, on what was 
then the western frontier of civilization. The late 
James L. Bowman, of Brownsville, who was conver- 
sant with the historj^ of that locality, said it was the 
first stone house ever erected on the western side of 
the Monongahela river. 

Mr. Blaine entered public life hj a strong associa- 
ation in his immediate family, if not by a law of 
heredity. His great-grandfather. Colonel Ephraim 
Blaine, of Carlisle, Cumberland count}^, Penns3dvania, 
held the position of Commissar^^-general of the Amer- 
ican army during the War of the Revolution, from the 
year IT 78 to the end of the struggle in 1183. 

Mr. Blaine's grandfather, for whom he is named, 
intended at first to choose a professional and political 
career, but a somewhat protracted stay in Europe, after 
he had finished his studies, directed him from the line 
of his first and better ambition, as has been the case 
2 



6 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



with many 3^oung Americans. He returned to his home 
in n 93, bringing with him, as special bearer of des- 
patches, a famous treaty with a foreign power, since 
become memorable; and subsequently, chiefl}^ followed 
the life of a private gentleman. Mr. Blaine's father 
was born and reared in Carlisle, and after an extensive 
tour in Europe, South America, and the West Indies, 
returned to spend most of his life in Washington 
county, Pennsylvania, where he died before his son had 
reached manhood. He came to Western Pennsylva- 
nia about the 3^ear 1818, being the owner of larger 
landed possessions than any other man of his age in 
that section of the State. His estate, if it had been 
preserved intact, would to-day have been worth many 
millions of dollars. 

In 1825, Mr. Ephraim L. Blaine (the father of the 
subject of our sketch) deeded to the Economites the 
splendid tract now occupied by the cit}^ of Pittsburg, 
with all its improvements and all its wealth. The 
price was $25,000 for a i^ropert}^, which at the present 
da}^, if even not improved, would be valued at mill- 
ions. There were likewise timber tracts on the Alle- 
ghen}' river and coal lands on the Monongahela, then 
of no special value, which represent large fortunes in 
the hands of their present owners. Very near the 
large tracts owned b}^ his father and grandfather, Mr. 
Blaine now owns one of the most highh^ valuable coal 
tracts in the Monongahela valle}^ In extent it is but 
a part of what he miglit have hoped to inherit, but in 
vahie it is much greater than the entire landed prop- 
erty of his father fifty years ago. 

Mr. Blaine's fatlier took special pains to give his 
son a thorough intellectual training. He was under 
the best tutorage in his earliest 3^ears, and at the age 



EARLY LIFE AND ANCESTRY. 



7 



of eleven was sent to school at Lancaster, Ohio, where 
he lived in the famil}^ of his relative, the Hon. Thomas 
Ewing, then Secretary of the Treasury. General 
Thomas Ewing, recently in Congress, Mr. Blaine's 
cousin, of the same age, was his classmate, under the 
tuition of William Lyons, an Englishman, a brother 
of the elder Lord Lj^ons and uncle of the Lord Lyons 
latety British Minister at Washington. 

Mr. Blaine's father, having been unfortunate in 
business when elected Prothonotary of the County 
Court in 1842 (five jeaTS before Mr. Blaine graduated), 
was poor, and only a Justice of the Peace. Of his 
five sons, James was the third, and his daughter was 
married to Robert J. Walker, also a graduate of 
Washington College. His father's new ofiQce caused 
him to remove to the countj^-seat, and enabled him to 
send James to college, which under the circumstances 
he would have been otherwise unable to do. James 
entered the freshmen class of Washington college, in 
NoA^ember, 1843, and graduated in September, 184T, 
at the age of 17 years and 8 months. Li a class of 
thirty-three, Mr. Blaine shared the first honor with 
John C. Herve^', now Superintendent of Public Li- 
struction at Wheeling. 

At the quarter-centennial of the class, in 1872, 
twent3^-nine of the thirty-three members were living, 
and all were men of position and character in their 
respective communities. John H. Hampton, Esq., of 
Pittsburg, A. M. Gow, of Washington, Pa., and John 
Y. Lemoyne, of Chicago, w^ere members of the class. 

At college, Mr. Blaine vras a most excellent student- 
Mr. Blaine was assigned the Latin salutatorj^, in 
which he acquitted himself very well as a classical 
student; and he showed, in a most marked degree, the 



8 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



qnalities. with examples of which he has since dazzled 
the countiy, of quick apprehension of all advantages 
and difficulties in his road and perfect command of 
all his resources for instantaneous use. His ability to 
give utterance to anything he had to say in the most 
forcible way was also noticeable in his wrangles or 
political discussions with his fellow-students. His ab- 
solute self-command under difficulties here also exhib- 
ited themselyes distinctly in his character. He was 
the most skillful mathematician in his class, and fre- 
quently would demonstrate the problem in a way not 
found in the books. It was a common occurrence for 
the old teacher of mathematics to sa}^ : " Mr. Blaine, 
3^ou are not demonstrating that in the proper way.*' 
Mr. Blaine would readil}^ reph^ : I know I am not, 
sir ; but giye me a chance to work it out, and you'll 
see it come out all right.'' And it did come out all 
right." 

Mr. Blaine's fondness for politics was shown at this 
early age in so marked a manner that his associates 
recollect it distinctly. In 1847 he graduated. This 
was three years after the Polk and Clay Presidential 
campaign. Young Blaine Ayas an ardent Clay mau, 
admiring his hero so much that it has been suspected 
that he got some of his peculiar powers from a study 
of the life, character, and speeches of " Young Harry 
of the West." It is now universally asserted by 
those who knew Henry Cla}' in the Speaker's chair at 
Washington, that Mr. Blaine follows his footsteps so 
closely in ability as a presiding officer that he gibes 
his heel." Blaine, consequent!}', was alwaj^s the court 
of last resort in a political discussion as to facts or 
opinions, ])ecause he was far above ever}^ one else in 
college as to knowledge of politics. 



BLAINE IN MAINE. 



9 



When young Blaine left college he was without 
means, as his father's earnings as Prothonotary were 
almost insufficient to maintain his large family, and 
the youthful graduate went to Kentucky to teach 
school in the country. He afterwards taught there 
in an academy, until he met his present wife, who was 
likewise a teacher in a school in Kentucky. She was a 
Maine woman, and after his marriage Mr. Blaine fol- 
lowed his bride to her own home in the Pine Tree State 
and settled there — thus going contrary to Horace 
Greeley's advice, b}^ going East instead of going 
West. Mr. Blaine had meantime written for the 
newspapers and magazines, and studied law, though 
he never entered upon the practice of that profession. 

BLAINE IN MAINE. 

When he went to Maine, in 1853, he became editor 
of the Kennebec Journal^ and afterward of the Port- 
land Advertiser. He was elected to the Maine Legis- 
lature in 1858, and served in that capacity four years, 
the last two as Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives. 

The following paragraph is from a letter by the late 
Governor Kent, of Maine : 

''Almost from the day of his assuming editorial 
charge of the Kennebec Journal, at the early age of 
23, Mr. Blaine sprang into a position of great influ- 
ence in the politics and policy of Maine. At 25 he 
was a leading power in the councils of the Republican 
party, so recognized by Fessendeu, Hamlin, and the 
two Morrills, and others then and still prominent in 
the State. Before he was 29 he was chosen Chairman 
of the Executive Committee of the Republican organ- 
ization in Maine — a position he has held ever since, 



10 JAMES G. BLAINE. 

and from Tvhich he has practical!}' shaped and directed 
every political campaign in the State — alwaj^s leading 
his party to brilliant victor3^ Had Mr. Blaine been 
Xew-Engiand born, he wonld probably not have re- 
ceived such rapid advancement at so early an age, 
even with the same ability he possessed. But there 
was a sort of Western dash about him that took with 
us Down-Easters — an expression of frankness, candor, 
and confidence that gave him, from the start, a very 
strong and permanent hold on our people, and. as the 
foundation of all, pure character and a masterly abil- 
ity equal to all demands made upon him." 

CAREER IN CONGRESS. 

In 1862 Mr. Blaine was elected a Representative in 
Congress, and from that day to the present he has 
been known to the whole country. On the floor of the 
House, in the Speaker's chair, again on the floor of the 
House, thence into the Senate, and during the politi- 
cal campaigns of all these j^ears on the stump in al- 
most every Northern State, Mr. Blaine has been most 
decided^ with the people and of the people. His 
views on all public questions have been pronounced, 
sometimes to aggressiveness, and his bitterest foe 
has never charged him with evading or avoiding an}' 
responsibilit}' or the expression of his conviction on 
any issue of the day. Though 3^0 ung when he entered 
Congress Mr. Blaine made his mark at once. At 
the period of darkest depression in the war, when 
anxiet}^ brooded everywhere and boded everj^thing, 
Mr. Blaine delivered a speech on The Ability of the 
American People to Suppress the Kebellion," which 
was warmly commended and circulated as a campaign 
document during the Presidential campaign of 1864. 



CAREER IN CONGRESS. 11 
«■ 

The delivery of this speech and some discussions soon 
after caused Thaddeus Stevens to say that " Blaine of 
Maine has shown as great aptitude and ability for the 
higher walks of public life as any man that had come 
to Congress during his period of service." 

During the first session of Mr. Blaine's service in 
Congress, as member of the Post-Office CommitteCjhe 
took an active part in co-operation with the chair- 
man, the Hon. John B. Alley, and the late James 
Brooks of New York, in encouraging and securing the 
system of postal cars now in universal use. Distribu- 
tion on the cars had not been attempted on any great 
scale, and the first appropriations for the enlarged 
service were not granted without opposition. 

The following is a speech of Mr. Blaine on Maine, 
in reply to reflections cast on her by S. S. Cox of 
Ohio, in the House, June 2, 1864: 

If there be a State in this Union that can say 
with truth that her Federal connection confers no 
special benefit of a material character, that State is 
Maine. And yet, sir, no State is more attached to 
the Federal Union than Maine. Her affection and her 
pride are centered in the Union, and God knows she 
has contributed of her best blood and treasure with- 
out stint in supporting the war for the Union ; and 
she will do so to the end. But she resents, and I, 
speaking for her, resent the insinuation that she de- 
rives any undue advantage from Federal legislation, 
or that she gets a single dollar that she does not pav 
back. ^ M M I have spoken in vindication of a 
State that is as independent and as proud as anv 
within the limits of the Union. I have spoken for a 
people as high-toned and as honorable as can be 



12 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



found ill the wide world — many of them my con- 
stituents, who are as manly and as brave as ever 
faced the ocean's storms. So long, sir, as I have a 
seat on this floor, the State of Maine shall not be 
slandered b}^ the gentleman from Ohio, or by gentle- 
men from aii}^ other State. 

The following are the remarks of Mr. Blaine on 
Fishing Bounties, in the House, June 2, 1864 : 

A great deal has been said recently in the other 
end of the Capitol in regard to the fishing bounties, 
a portion of which is paid to Maine. I have a word 
to sa}^ on that matter, and I ma}' as well say it here, 
xlccording to the records of the Nav}^ Department, 
the State of Maine has sent into the naval service 
since the beo'innino; of this war six thousand skilled 
seamen, to say nothing of the trained and invaluable 
officers she has contributed to the same sphere of 
patriotic duty. For these men the State has received 
no credit whatever on her quotas for the Army. If 
3'ou will calculate the amount of bounty that would 
have been paid to that number of men had thej en- 
listed in the Arm}', instead of entering the Navy, as 
the}' did without bount}", 3'ou will find it will foot up 
a larger sum than Maine has received in fishing 
liounties for the past twent}' years. Thus, sir, the 
original proposition on which fishing bounties were 
granted — that the}^ would build up a hardy and skill- 
lul class of mariners for the public defense in time 
of public danger — has been made good a hundred 
and a thousand-fold by the experience and the de- 
velopments of this war. 

The following are remarks of Mr. Blaine on Maine's 
loyalty, June 21, 1864 : 



CAREER IN CONGRESS. 



13 



The sentiment of Maine is loyal to the core, and 
she has shown her loyalty b}^ complying with patri- 
otic readiness to all demands thus far made upon her 
for soldiers to recruit the Army, or for sailors to man 
the Navy. 

The next are remarks of Mr. Blaine on the Con- 
scription Bill, June 21, 1864 : 

A conscription is a hard thing at best, Mr. Speaker, 
but the people of this countrj^ are patriotically willing 
to submit to one in this great crisis for the great 
cause at stake. There is no necessity, however, for 
making it absolutely merciless and sweeping. I say, 
in my judgment, there is no necessit}' for making it so, 
even if there were no antecedent question as to the 
expediency and practicability of the measure. I 
believe the law as it stands, allowing commutation 
and substitution, is sufficiently effective, if judiciously 
enforced. It will raise a large number of men by its 
direct operation, and it will secure a very large amount 
of money with which to pay bounties to volunteers. 

^•^'^■^•^■^'^•^■^ 

I cannot refrain from asking gentlemen around 
me, whether in their judgment the pending measure, 
if submitted to the popular vote, would receive the 
support of even a respectable minority in any district 
in the loyal States ? Just let it be understood that 
whoever the lot falls on must go^ regardless of all 
business considerations, all private interests, all per- 
sonal engagements, all family obligations ; that the 
draft is to be sharp, decisive, final and inexorable, 
without commutation and without substitution, and 
my word for it you will create consternation in all 
the loyal States. Such a conscription was never re- 



14 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



sorted to but once, even in the French Empire under 
the absohitism of the first Xapoleon ; and for the 
Congress of the United States to attempt its enforce- 
ment upon their constituents is to ignore the first 
principles of republican and representatiA^e govern- 
ment. 

When the Enrollment Bill was under consideration 
in the House, Februar}' 21, 1865, Mr. Blaine moved 
to amend the second section thereof by adding the 
following : Provided. That in any call for troops, no 
county, town, township, ward, precinct or election 
district, shall have credit except for men actually fur- 
nished on said call, or preceding call, by said county, 
town, township, ward, precinct, or election district, 
and mustered into the military or naval service on the 
quota thereof. 

In favor of this amendment, among other things, 
Mr. Blaine said : Throughout the whole country we 
hear of substitute brokers selling these credits, ob- 
tained in some mysterious way, as one would sell town 
scrip in the market ; and from this source has risen 
a large number of those constructive "paper credits " 
against which my amendment is leveled, and which, 
for the future, it will prevent. It may not be in our 
power to remed}^ the wrong practices of the past, but 
from this time forward we can guard against the rep- 
etition of these practices. We can deal with equal 
and exact justice to all men and to all sections; and, 
above all, we can deal justly b}^ the Government in 
its struggle for existence. In its hour of peril it calls 
for men — living, active, resolute men, and it is worse 
than madness to answer this call with anything else 
than men. 

Let me say in conclusion, Mr. Speaker, that noth- 



CAREER IN CONGRESS. 



15 



ing so discourages and disheartens the brave men 
at the front as the belief that proper measures are not 
adopted at home for re-enforcing and sustaining them. 
Even a lukewarmness or a backwardness in that re- 
spect is enough ; but when you add to that the sus- 
picion that unfair devices have been resorted to by 
those charged with filling quotas, you naturall3^ influ- 
ence the prejudices and passions of our veterans in 
the field in a manner calculated to lessen their per- 
sonal zeal and generally to weaken the discipline of 
the army. After four years of such patriotic and he- 
roic efi'ort for national unity as the world has never 
witnessed before, we cannot now afford to have the 
great cause injured or its fair fame darkened by a 
single unworthy incident connected with it. The im- 
proper practices of individuals cannot disgrace or de- 
grade the nation ; but after these practices are brought 
to the attention of Congress, we shall assuredh^ be 
disgraced and degraded if we fail to apply the requi- 
site remedy when that remedy is in our power. Let 
us, then, in this hour of triumph to the national arms 
do our duty here, our duty to the troops in the field, 
our duty to our constituents at home, and our dut}^, 
above all, to our country, whose existence has been in 
such peril in the past, but who se future of greatness 
and glory seems now so assured and so radiant. 

Following the war, and throughout the Recon- 
struction period, Mr. Blaine was active, energetic and 
intelligent. He was especially prominent in shaping 
some of the most important features of the Fourteenth 
Constitutional Amendment, particularly that relating 
to the basis of representation. The discussions on 
this great series of questions, in which Mr. Blaine 
figured prominently^, are among the most interesting 



16 



JAIVIES G. BLAINE. 



and yaluable in the history of the Congress of the 
United States of America. 

Blaine declared for Protection, in the House, Feb- 
ruary 1, 1866, as will be seen in the following remarks : 

In theory and in practice, I am for protecting 
American industry in all its forms, and to this end 
we must encourage American manufactures, and we 
must equalh' encourage American commerce. 

Following is Mr. Blaine's speech on '"What the 
Government Owes Its Subjects,*" in the House, De- 
cember 10, 1866 : 

Among the most solemn duties of a sovereign 
government is the protection of those citizens who, 
under great temj)tations and amid great perils, main- 
tain their faith and their loyalty. The obligation on 
the Federal Government to protect the loyalists of 
the South is supreme, and they must take all needful 
means to assure that protection. Among the most 
needful is the gift of free suffrage, and that must be 
guaranteed. There is no protection 3^ou can extend 
to a man so effective and conclusive as the power to 
protect himself. And in assuring protection to the 
loyal citizen you assure permanency to the Govern- 
ment ; so that the bestowal of suffrage is not merely 
the discharge of a personal obligation toward those 
who are enfranchised, but it is the most far-sighted 
provision against social disorder, the surest guaranty 
for peace, prosperit}^ and public justice. 

In 186Y, while Mr. Blaine was absent in Europe, 
the theor}' of paying the public debt in greenbacks 
was started in Ohio by Mr. Pendleton and in Massa- 
chusetts by General Butler. Just after his return, in 
the fall of 186Y, at a special adjourned session of 



CAREER IN CONGRESS. 17 

Congress, in November, Mr. Blaine assaulted the 
proposition in a speech of great research, force and 
logic. Thus he was the first man in either branch of 
Congress who spoke against the financial heresy that 
has since occupied public attention. Since that time, 
both in Congress and before the people, Mr. Blaine 
has been untiring in educating public opinion to the 
right standard of financial and national honor. Others 
may have been more prominent than he in Congress, 
but Mr. Blaine, more than ^ny other man, has reached 
the mind and aroused the popular judgment by ad- 
dresses from the stump through the East and the 
West. 

The following are remarks of Mr. Blaine on Grant, 
in the House, Dec. 10, 1868 : 

General Grant's Administration will have high 
vantage ground from the day of its inauguration. 
Its responsibilities will indeed be great, its power 
will be large, its opportanities will be splendid ; and 
to meet them all we have a tried and true man, who 
adds to his other great elements of strength that 
of perfect trust and confidence on the part of the 
people. And to re-assure ourselves of his executive 
character, if re-assurance were necessary, let us re- 
member that great militar}'^ leaders have uniformly 
proved the wisest, firmest and best of civil rulers. 
Cromwell, William III., Charles XII., Frederick 
of Prussia, are not more conspicuous instances in 
monarchical governments than Washington, Jackson 
and Ta3^1or have proved in our own. Whatever, there- 
fore, may lie before us in the untrodden and often 
beclouded path of the future — whether it be financial 
embarrassment, or domestic trouble of another and 



18 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



more serious type, or misunderstandings with foreign 
nations, or the extension of our flag and our 
sovereignty over insular or continental possessions, 
Xorth or South, that fate or fortune may peacefully 
offer to our ambition — let us believe with all confi- 
dence that General Grant's administration will meet 
ever}^ exigenc}^, with the courage, the ability and 
the conscience which American nationality and 
Christian civilization demand. 

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 

On the 4th of March, 1869, James G. Blaine was 
elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, being- 
then in his 39th year. The vote stood : For James 
G. Blaine, of Maine, 135 votes ; for Michael C. Kerr, 
of Indiana, 5^ votes. 

Upon taking the chair, Mr. Blaine addressed the 
House, as follows: 

Gentlemen of the House of Bepresentatives : I 
thank 3^ou profoundly for the great honor which you 
have just conferred upon me. The gratification which 
this signal mark of j^our confidence brings to me finds 
its onl}' drawback in the diffidence with which I as- 
sume the weighty duties devolved upon me. Succeed- 
ing to a chair made illustrious by the services of such 
eminent statesmen and skilled parliamentarians as 
Clay, and Stevenson, and Polk, and Winthrop, and 
Banks, and Grow, and Colfax, I may well distrust 
my abilit}' to meet the just expectations of those who 
have shown me such marked partiality. But relying, 
gentlemen, on my honest purpose to perform all my 
duties faithfully and fearlesslj^, and trusting in a large 
measure to the indulgence which I am sure yon will 



SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 



19 



always extend to me, I shall hope to retain, as I have 
secured your confidence, your kindh' regard and your 
generous support. 

The Forty-first Congress assembles at an auspi- 
cious period in the history of our government. The 
splendid and impressive ceremonial which we have 
just witnessed in another part of the Capitol appro- 
priateh^ symbolizes the triumphs of the past and the 
hopes of the future. A great chieftain, whose'sword 
at the head of gallant and victorious armies saved the 
republic from dismemberment and ruin, has been fith^ 
called to the highest civic honor which a grateful 
people can bestow. Sustained by a Congress that so 
ably represents the loyalty, the patriotism, and the' 
personal worth of the nation, the President this da}^ 
inaugurated will assure to the country an administra- 
tion of 23urit3^, fidelity and prosperity : an era of lib- 
erty regulated by law, and of law thoroughly inspired 
with libert3\ 

Congratulating 3'ou, gentlemen, upon the happy 
auguries of the da3^,and invoking the gracious blessing 
of Almighty God on the arduous and responsible 
labors before you, I am now ready to take the oath of 
office and enter upon the discharge of the duties to 
which you have called me. [Applause.] 

The oath of office was then administered to the 
Speaker-elect b}^ Hon. Elihu B. Washburne, of Illi- 
nois, the senior member of the bod3\ 

On the 3d of March, 1871, the 41st Congress ex- 
pired. On that da}' Mr. S. S. Cox, of Xew York^ 
offered the following resolution : 

Resolved^ In view of the difficulties involved in the 
performance of the duties of the presiding officer of 
this House, and of the able, courteous, dignified, and 



20 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



impartial discharge of those duties by Hon. J. G. 
Blaine during the present Congress, it is eminently 
becoming that our thanks be and they are hereby 
tendered to the Speaker thereof. 
The resolution was agreed to. 

Speaker Blaine, in adjourning the House at noon 
of that day, said : 

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: Our 
labors are at an end; but I delay the final adjourn- 
ment long enough to return my most profound and 
respectful thanks for the commendation which you 
have been pleased to bestow upon my official course 
and conduct. 

In a deliberative body of this character a presiding 
officer is fortunate if he retains the confidence and 
steady support of his political associates. Beyond 
that you give me the assurance that I have earned the 
respect and good-will of those from whom I am sepa- 
rated by party lines. Your expressions are most 
grateful to me, and are most gratefully acknowl- 
edged. 

The Congress whose existence closes with this 
hour enjoys a memorable distinction. It is the first 
in which all the States have been represented on this 
floor since the baleful winter that preceded our late 
bloody war.. Ten years have passed since then — years 
of trial and of triumph ; years of wild destruction 
and years of careful rebuilding; and after all, and as 
the result of all, the National Government is here to- 
day, united, strong, proud, defiant and just, with a terri- 
torial area vastly expanded, and with three additional 
States represented on the folds of its flag. For these 
prosperous fruits of our great struggle let us humbly 



SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 



21 



give thanks to the God of battles and to the Prince 
of Peace. 

And now, gentlemen, with one more expression of 
the obligation I feel for the considerate kindness 
with which you have always sustained me, I perform 
the ouly remaining duty of my office, in declaring, 
as I now do, that the House of Representatives of 
the Forty-first Congress is adjourned without day. 
[Great applause.] 

When the Forty-second Congress convened on the 
4th day of March, 1871, Hon. James G. Blaine was 
re-elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
the vote standing as follows : 

James G. Blaine, of Maine, received 126 votes. 
Geo. W. Morgan, of Ohio, received 92 
After Mr. Blaine had been conducted to the chair 
he addressed the House, as follows : 

Gentlemen: The Speakership of the American 
House of Representatives has always been esteemed 
as an enviable honor. A re-election to the position 
carries with it peculiar gratification, in that it implies 
an approval of past official bearing. For this great 
mark of your confidence I can but return to you my 
sincerest thanks, with the assurance of my utmost 
devotion to the duties which you call upon me to dis- 
charge. 

Chosen by the party representing the political 
majority in this House, the Speaker owes a faithful 
allegiance to the principles and the policj' of that 
party. But he Avill fall far below the honorable re- 
quirements of his station if he fails to give to the 
minority their full rights under the rules which he is 
called upon to administer. The successful working 

a 



22 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



of our grand s^^stem of government depends largely 
upon the vigilance of part}^ organizations, and the 
most wholesome legislation which this House pro- 
duces and perfects is that which results from oppos- 
ing forces mutually eager and watchful and well-nigh 
balanced in numbers. 

The Forty-second Congress assembles at a period 
of general content, happiness and prosperity' through- 
out the land. Under the wise administration of the 
National Government, peace reigns in all our borders, 
and the only serious misunderstanding with an}^ 
foreign power is, we ma}^ hope, at this moment in 
process of honorable, cordial and lasting adjustment. 
We are fortunate in meeting at such a time, in repre- 
senting such constituencies, in legislating for such a 
country. 

Trusting, gentlemen, that our official intercourse 
may be free from all personal asperity, believing that 
all our labors will eventuate for the public good, and 
craving the blessing of Him without whose aid we 
labor in vain, I am now ready to proceed with the 
further organization of the House ; and, as the first 
step thereto, I will myself take the oath prescribed 
b}^ the Constitution and laws. [Loud applause.] 

The oath of office was then administered by Hon. 
H. L. Dawes, of Massachusetts, who served longest 
continuously as a member of the House. 

On the 16th of March, 18^1, the House considered 
a resolution providing for an investigation into alleged 
outrages perpetrated upon loyal citizens of the South ; 
when Mr. Butler, of Mass., indulged in criticisms 
ui)on the Speaker for being the author of the resolu- 
tion, and for being mainly responsible for its adoption 
by a caucus of Kepul)lican members of the House; 



SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 



23 



whereupon Mr. Blaine felt called upon to leave the 
chair and take the floor in his defense, when the fol- 
lowing colloquy ensued between Mr. Blaine and Mr. 
Butler : 

Mr. Blaine, the Speaker. [Mr. Wheeler, of New 
York, in the chair.] I desire to ask the gentleman 
from Massachusetts (Mr. Butler) whether he denies to 
me the right to have drawn that resolution ? 

Mr. Butler. I have made no assertion on that 
subject one wa}^ or the other. 

Mr. Blaine. Did not the gentleman distinctly 
know" that I drew it ? 

Mr. Butler. No, sir. 

Mr. Blaine. Did I not take it to the gentleman 
and read it to him ? 
Mr. Butler. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Blaine. Did I not show him the manuscript ? 

Mr. Butler. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Blaine. In m}" own handwriting ? 

Mr. Butler. No, sir. 

Mr. Blaine. And at his suggestion I added these 
words : " and the expenses of said committee shall be 
paid from the contingent fund of the House of Rep- 
resentatives," [Applause;] and the fact that wa}- s and 
means were wanted to pay the expenses was the only 
objection he made to it. 

Mr. Butler. What Avas the answer the gentleman 
made? I suppose I ma}' ask that, now^ that the 
Speaker has come upon the floor. 

Mr. Blaine. The answer was that I immediately 
wrote the amendment providing for the paj^ment of 
the expenses of the committee. 

Mr. Butler. What was my answer ? Was it not 



24 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



that under no circumstances would I have anything 
to do with it, being bound bj^the action of the caucus ? 

Mr. Blaine. No, sir ; the answer was that under 
no circumstances would you serve as chairman. 

Mr. Butler. Or have an^^thing to do with the res- 
olution . 

Mr. Blaine. There are two hundred and twenty- 
four members of the House of Representatives. A 
committee of thirteen can be found without the gen- 
tleman from Massachusetts being on it. His service 
is not essential to the constitution of the committee. 

Mr. Butler. Why did 3^ou not find such a com- 
mittee, then ? 

Mr. Blaine. Because I knew very well that if I 
omitted the appointment of the gentleman, it would 
be heralded throughout the length and breadth of the 
country, by the claquers who have so industriously 
distributed this letter this morning, that the Speaker 
had packed the committee, as the gentleman said he 
would, with ''weak-kneed Republicans," who would 
not go into an investigation vigorousl}^, as he would. 
That was the reason. [Applause] So that the Chair 
laid the responsibility upon the gentleman of declin- 
ing the appointment. 

Mr. Butler. I knew that was the trick of the 
Chair. 

Mr. Blaine. Ah, the "trick!" We now know 
what the gentleman meant by the word " trick." I am 
very glad to know that the ''trick " was successful. 

Mr. Butler. No doubt. 

Mr. Blaine. It is this " trick " which places the 
gentleman from Massachusetts on his responsibility 
before the country. 

Mr. Butler. Exactl^^ 



SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 



25 



Mr. Blaine. Wholl}-. 
Mr. Butler. Wholly. 

Mr. Blaine. Now, sir, the gentleman from Massa- 
chusetts talks about the coercion by which fiftj^-eight 
Republicans were made to vote for the resolution. I 
do not know what any one of them may have to say ; 
but if there be here to-day a single gentleman who has 
given to the gentleman of Massachusetts the intima- 
tion that he felt coerced — that he was in anj^ way 
restrained from free action, let him get up now and 
speak, or "forever after hold his peace." 

Mr. Butler. Oh, yes. 

Mr. Blaine. The gentleman from Massachusetts 
says: Having been appointed against my wishes, 
expressed both publicly and privatel}", by the Speaker, 
as chairman of a committee to investigate the state 
of affairs in the South, ordered to-da}^ by Democratic 
votes, against the most earnest protest of more than a 
two-thirds majority of the Republicans of the House." 

Mr. Butler. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Blaine. This statement is so bold and ground- 
less that I do not know what repl}^ to make to it. Jt 
is made in the face of the fact that on the roll-call 
fifty-eight Republicans voted for the resolution, and 
forty-nine, besides the gentleman from Massachusetts, 
against it. I deny that the gentleman has the right to 
speak for any member who voted for it, unless it may 
be the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Ma^^nard), 
who voted for it, for the purpose, probably, of moving 
a reconsideration — a very common, a very justifiable 
and proper course whenever an}- gentleman chooses 
to adopt it. I am not criticising it at all. But if 
there be any one of the fifty-eight gentlemen who 
voted for the resolution under coercion I would 



26 



JAMES G, BLAINE. 



like the gentleman from Massachusetts to designate 
him. 

Mr. Butler. I am not here to retail private con- 
versations. 

Mr. Blaine. Oh, no; but jon will distribute 
throughout the entire countiy unfounded calumnies 
purporting to rest upon assertions made in private 
conversations, which, when called for, cannot be veri- 
fied. 

Mr. Butler. Pardon me, sir. I said there was a 
caucus 

Mr. Blaine. I hope God will pardon you ; but 
you ought not to ask me to do it ! [Laughter.] 

Mr. Butler. I will ask God, and not you. 

Mr. Blaine. I am glad the gentleman will. 

Mr. Butler. I have no favors to ask of the devil. 
And let me sa}^ that the caucus agreed upon a definite 
mode of action. 

Mr. Blaine. The caucus ! N'ow, let me say here, 
and now that the Chairman of that caucus, sitting on 
ni}^ right, "a chevalier," in legislation, " sans peur et 
sans reproclie^'''^ the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Austin Blair) stated, as a man of honor, as he is, 
that he was bound to sa}^ officially from the Chair that 
it was not considered, and could not be considered 
binding upon gentlemen. And more than that. Talk 
about tricks ! Wh}^, the very infamy of political 
trickery never compassed a design so foolish and so 
wicked as to bring together a caucus, and attempt to 
pledge them to the support of measures which might 
violate not only the political principles, but the reli- 
gious faith of men — to the support of the bill drawn 
by the gentleman from Massachusetts, which might 
violate the conscientious scruples of men. And 3^et, 



SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 



21 



forsooth, he comes in here and declares that whatever 
a caucus ma}" determine upon, however hastil}^, how- 
ever crudely, however wrongfulh^, 3'ou must support 
it! Why, even in the worst days of the Democracy, 
when the gentleman himself was in the front rank of 
the worst wing of it, when was it ever attempted to 
say that a majority of a part}" caucus could hind men 
upon measures that involved questions of constitu- 
tional law, of personal honor, of religious scruple? 
The gentleman asked what would have been done — 
he asked my colleague (Mr. Peters) what would have 
been done in case of members of a part}" voting against 
the caucus nominee for Speaker. I understand that 
was intended as a thrust at myself. Caucus nomina- 
tions of officers have alwavs been held as bindino-. 
But, just here, let me say, that if a minority did not 
vote against the decision of the caucus that nominated 
me for Speaker, in my judgment, it was not the fault 
of the gentleman from Massachusetts. [Applause.] 
If the requisite number could have been found to 
have gone over to the despised Xazarenes on the 
opposite side, that gentleman would have led them as 
gallantly as he did the forces in the Charleston Con- 
vention. [Renewed applause and laughter.] 

Mr. Speaker, in old times it was the ordinary habit 
of the Speaker of the House of Representatives to 
take part in debate. The custom has fallen into dis- 
use. For one, I am very glad that it has. For one, 
I approve of the conclusion that forbids it. The 
Speaker should, with consistent fidelity to his own 
party, be the impartial administrator of the rules of 
the House, and a constant participation in the dis- 
cussions of members would take from him that ap- 
pearance of impartiality which it is so important to 



28 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



maintain in the rulings of the Chair. But at the 
same time I despise and denounce the insolence of 
the gentleman from Massachusetts when he attempts 
to say that the Representative from the Third District 
of the State of Maine has no right to frame a resolu- 
tion ; has no right to seek that under the rules that 
resolutions shall be adopted ; has no right to ask the 
judgment of the House upon that resolution. Why, 
even the insolence of the gentleman himself never 
reached that sublime height before. 

^ow, Mr. Speaker, nobod}^ regrets more sincerely 
than I do any occurrence which calls me to take the 
floor. On questions of propriety, I appeal to mem- 
bers on both sides of the House, and they will bear 
me witness, that the circulation of this letter in the 
morning prints ; its distribution throughout the land 
by telegraph ; the laying it upon the desks of mem- 
bers, was intended to be by the gentleman from Mass- 
achusetts, not openly and boldly, but covertly — I will 
not use a stronger phrase — an insult to the Speaker 
of this House. As such I resent it. I denounce it 
in all its essential statements, and in all its misstate- 
ments, and in all its mean inferences and meaner 
inuendoes. I denounce the letter as groundless with- 
out justification; and the gentleman himself, I trust, 
will live to see the day when he will be ashamed of 
having written it. 

[From Congressional Record for Second Session 
of Forty-second Congress, page 4461.] 

When the Second Session of the Forty-second Con- 
gress adjourned finally, on the 8th day of June, 18*72 
Mr. Niblack, of Indiana, took the Chair temporarily, 



SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 



29 



when Mr. Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania, sub- 
mitted the following resolution : 

Resolved^ That the thanks of this House are due, 
and are hereby tendered to James G. Blaine, Speaker 
of the House, for the able, prompt and impartial 
manner in which he has discharged the duties of his 
office during the present session. 

The resolution was unanimously adopted. 

During the Presidential campaign of 1872, charges 
of bribery were preferred against a number of men 
occupying high and honored positions in the public 
service. This induced Mr. Blaine to take the floor in 
the House when Congress convened in regular session 
on the 2d day of December, 18T2, when he addressed 
the House as follows : 

[Mr. Cox, of New York, in the Chair.] 
Mr. Speaker, I rise to a question of the highest 
privilege, to one that concerns the integrit^^ of mem- 
bers of this House and the honor of the House itself. 
It is quite generally known to the members of this 
House that during the recent Presidential campaign 
there was a wide-spread accusation of bribery of 
members ; that members of this House were bribed to 
perform certain legislative acts for the benefit of the 
Union Pacific Railroad Company, b}^ presents of 
stock in a corporation known as the ''Credit Mobilier." 
Without obtruding myself as one of eminent station, 
I may say that the charge struck in high places. It 
included the Vice-President of the United States ; the 
I'j Vice-President-elect of the United States ; it included 
' three Senators of the United States — two of them 
I ex-Senators from Tennessee and Delaware, and one a 
present Senator from New Hampshire ; it included 



30 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



the Secretaiy of the Treasury of the United States ; 
it inchidecl honorable and prominent members of this 
House — niy friend, the Chairman of the Ways and 
Means (Mr. Dawes) ; m^^ friend, the Chairman of the 
Appropriations Committee (Mr. Garfield) ; the gen- 
tleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelley),the Chairman 
of the Civil-Service Committee ; the gentleman from 
Ohio (Mr. Bingham), the Chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee ; the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Schofield), the Chairman of the Xaval Committee. 
On the other side of the House, the prominent and 
distinguished member of the Ways and Means Com- 
mittee from Xew York (Mr. Brooks) ; and a member 
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Boyer), not now in this 
House; and besides these a gentleman from Massachu- 
setts (Mr. Eliot), no longer among the living, but 
sleeping in what was considered an honored grave. 
These accusations are that the several persons re- 
ceived bribes from the hands of a Representative 
from Massachusetts (Mr. Ames). A charge of bribery 
of members is the gravest that can be made in a 
legislative body. It seems to me, sir, that this charge 
demands prompt, thorough and impartial investiga- 
tion, and I have taken the floor for the purpose of 
moving that investigation. Unwilling, of course, to 
appoint an^^ committee of investigation to examine 
into a cliarge in which I was mj^self included, I have 
called you, sir, to the Chair, an honored member of 
the House, honored here and honored in the country-; 
and when on Saturday last I called upon jon and ad- 
vised 3^ou of this service,! placed upon you no other 
restriction in the appointment of a committee than 
that it should not contain a majority of my political 
friends. 



SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 



31 



I therefore send to the Clerk's desk, for adoption 
by the House, a preamble and accompanying resolu- 
tion. 

It was read b}^ the Clerk as follows : 

Whereas accusations have been made in the public 
press, founded on the alleged letters of Oakes Ames, 
a Representative from Massachusetts, and upon the 
alleged affidavit of Henry C. McComb, a citizen of 
Wilmington, in the State of Delaware, to the effect 
that members of this House were bribed by Oakes 
Ames to perform certain legislative acts for the bene- 
fit of the Union Pacific Railway Company, by pres- 
ents of stock in the Credit Mobilier of America, or 
by presents of a valuable character derived there- 
from; therefore, 

Resolved^ That a special committee of five mem- 
bers be appointed by the Speaker pro tempore, whose 
duty it shall be to im^estigate and ascertain whether 
an}^ member of this House was bribed by Oakes 
Ames in any matter touching his legislative duty. 

Resolved further, That the committee have the 
right to employ a stenographer, and that they be em- 
powered to send for persons and papers. 

The resolution was agreed to. 

On the 3d of March, 18T3, Mr. Yoorhees of Indiana 
spoke as follows : 

[Hon. Wm. A. Wheeler, of New York, in the Chair,] 
I rise to present a matter to the House in which I am 
sure every member will concur. In doing so I per- 
form the most pleasant duty of m}^ entire service on 
this floor. I offer the following resolution. It has 
the sincere sanction of m}' head and of my heart. I 
move its adoption. 



32 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



The Clerk read as follows : 

Resolved^ That the thanks of this House are due, 
and are hereb}^ tendered, to Hon. James G. Blaine, 
for the distinguished ability and impartiality^ with 
which he has discharged the duty of Speaker of the 
House of Representatives of the Porty^-second Con- 
gress. 

The resolution was adopted unanimously. 
On the same day- , in adjouriling the House sine die, 
Mr. Blaine spoke as follows : 

Gentlemen: For the forty-second time since the 
Federal Government was organized, its great repre- 
sentative body stands on the eve of dissolution. 
The final word which separates us is suspended for a 
moment that I ma}^ return my sincere thanks for the 
kind expressions respecting my official conduct, which, 
without division of part}^, you have caused to be 
entered on your journal. 

At the close of four 3'ears service in this responsible 
and often trying position, it is a source of honorable 
pride that I have so administered my trust as to 
secure the confidence and approbation of both sides 
of the House. It would not be strange if, in the neces- 
sarily rapid discharge of the dail}^ business, I should 
have erred in some of the decisions made on points, 
and often without precedent to guide me. It has been 
m}^ good fortune, however, to be always sustained by 
the House, and in no single instance to have had a 
ruling reversed. I advert to this gratifying fact, to 
quote the language of the most eloquent of my prede- 
cessors, "in no vain spirit of exhaltatiou, but as 
furnishing a powerful motive for undissembled grati- 
tude." 



SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 



33 



And now, gentlemen, with a hearty God bless 3^ou 
all, I discharge my only remaining duty in declaring 
that the House of Representatives for the Fort}^- 
second Congress is adjourned without day. [Ap- 
plause.] 

On the 2nd day of December, 1813, Hon. James G. 
Blaine, of Maine, was chosen Speaker of the United 
States House of Representatives for the third time, 
Mr. Blaine receiving 189 votes to 80 votes cast for all 
others. After being conducted to the chair b}^ Mr. 
Maynard, of Tennessee, and Mr. Wood, of New York, 
he addressed the House as follows : 

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: The 
vote this moment announced by the Clerk, is such an 
expression of your confidence as calls for m}^ sincerest 
thanks. To be chosen Speaker of the American 
House of Representatives is always an honorable 
distinction ; to be chosen a third time enhances the 
honor more than three-fold ; to be chosen by the 
largest body that ever assembled in the Capitol im- 
poses a burden of responsibilit}" which onh^ 3^our 
indulgent kindness could embolden me to assume. 

The first occupant of this Chair presided over a 
House of sixty-five members representing a popu- 
lation far below the present aggregate of the State 
of New York. At that time in the whole United 
States there were not fift}" thousand civilized inhabi- 
i tants to be found one hundred miles distant from the 
flow of the Atlantic tide. To-day, gentlemen, a large 
body of you come from bej^ond that limit, and rep- 
i| resent districts then peopled only b}^ the Indian and 
jl adventurous frontiersman. The National Government 
is not yet as old as manj^ of its citizens ; but in this 



34 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



brief span of time, less than one lengthened life, it 
has, under God's providence, extended its power 
until a continent is the field of its empire and attests 
the majesty of its law. 

With the growth of new States and the resulting 
changes in the centers of X3opulation, new interests 
are developed, rival to the old, but by no means 
hostile, diverse but not antagonistic, ^siy, rather are 
all these interests in harmony ; and the true science of 
just government is to give to each its full and fair 
play, oppressing none by undue exaction, favoring 
none b}' undue privilege. It is this great lesson 
which our daily experience is teaching us, binding us 
together more closel}^ making our mutual dependence 
more manifest, and causing us to feel, whether we live 
in the North or in the South, in the East or in the 
West, that we have indeed but "one country, one Con- 
stitution, one destiny." 

The oath of office was then administered b}^ Henry 
L. Dawes, of Massachusetts, the oldest member in 
continuous service. 

Upon the occasion of a reception given by the United 
States Senate and House of Representatives on the 
18th of December, ISH, to the King of the Hawaiian 
Islands, after the Senators had filed into the Hall of 
the House, and had taken seats assigned them to the 
Speaker's right, and the joint committee of reception 
had escorted the Hawaiian King, attended by his 
suite down the main aisle fronting the Speaker, the 
latter addressed His majesty, thus: 

Your Majesty : On behalf of the American Congress 
I welcome you to these Halls. The Senators from our 
States and the Representatives of our people unite in 



SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 



35 



cordial congratulations upon your auspicious journey, 
and in the expression of the gratification and pleas- 
ure afforded by your presence in the Capitol of the 
nation as the nation's guest. 

Your Majesty's appearance among us is the first 
instance in which a reigning sovereign has set foot 
upon the soil of the United States, and it is a sig- 
nificant circumstance that the visit comes to us from 
the West and not from the East. Probabh^ no single 
event could more strikingl}^ typif}^ the centurj-'s pro- 
gress in 3^our Majesty's country and in our own than 
the scene here and now transpiring. 

The rapid growth of the Republic on its Western 
coast has greatl}^ enlarged our intercourse with your 
insular kingdom, and has led us all to a knowledge of 
your wisdom and beneficence as a ruler, and 3'our 
exalted virtues as a man. Our whole people cherish 
for your subjects the most friendl}^ regard. The}^ 
trust and believe that the relations of the two 
countries will always be as peaceful as the great sea 
that rolls between us — uniting and not dividing ! 

Chief Justice Allen of the Hawaiian Islands re- 
sponded in behalf of the King. 

At the expiration of the Forty-third Congress on 
the 3d day of March, 1875, Mr. Potter submitted the 
following resolution : 

Besolved, That the thanks of this House are due, 
and are hereby tendered, to Hon. James G. Blaine, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives, for the 
impartiality, efficiency and distinguished ability with 
which he has discharged the trying and arduous duties 
of his office during the Forty-third Congress. 

The resolution was unanimously agreed to. 



36 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



On the same day, when the clock indicated that the 
hour for the dissolution of the Fort^^-third Congress 
had arrived, Speaker Blaine delivered the following 
valedictory address : 

Gentlemen: I close with this hour a six years' 
service as Speaker of the House of Representatives 
— a period surpassed in length b}' but two of m}' pre- 
decessors, and equaled by only two others. The 
rapid mutations of personal and political fortunes in 
this countr}^ have limited the great majority of those 
who have occupied this Chair to shorter terms of 
office. 

It would be the gravest insensibility to the honors 
and responsibilities of life, not to be deeply touched 
by so signal a mark of public esteem as that which 
I have thrice received at the hands of my political 
associates. I desire in this last moment to renew to 
them, one and all, my thanks and m}^ gratitude. 

To those from whom I differ in my party rela- 
tions — the minority of this House — I tender my 
acknowledgements for the generous courtesy with 
which they have treated me. By one of those sud- 
den and decisive changes which distinguish popular 
institutions, and which conspicuously mark a free 
people, that minority is transformed in the ensuing 
Congress to the governing power of the House. How- 
ever it might possibl}^ have been under other circum- 
stances, that event renders these words my farewell 
to the Chair. 

The Speakership of the American House of 
Representatives is a post of honor, of dignity, of 
power, of responsibilit3\ Its duties are at once com- 
plex and continuous ; they are both onerous and deli- 
cate ; the^' are performed in the broad light of day, 



AGAIN ON THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE. 



37 



under the eye of the whole people, subject at all times 
to the closest observation, and always attended with 
the sharpest criticism. I think no other official is 
held to such instant and such rigid accountability^ 
Parliamentary rulings in their very nature are per- 
emptory^: almost absolute in authority and instan- 
taneous in effect. They cannot always be enforced 
in such a way as to win applause or secure popularity ; 
but I am sure that no man of any party who is 
worth}^ to fill this chair will ever see a dividing line 
between duty and policy^ 

Thanking you once more, and thanking you most 
cordially for the honorable testimonial you have 
placed on record to my credit, I perform my only re- 
maining duty in declaring that the Forty -third Con- 
gress has reached its constitutional limit, and that the 
House of Representatives stands adjourned without 
day. [Great applause all over the hall.] 

It has often been said that no man since Clay's 
Speakership presided with such an absolute knowl- 
edge of the rules of the House, or with so great a 
mastery in the rapid, intelligent, and faithful dis- 
charge of business as Mr. Blaine. His knowledge of 
parliamentary law was instinctive and complete, and 
his administration of it so fair that both sides of the 
House, as we have seen, at the close of each Congress, 
united in cordial thanks for his impartiality. As Mr. 
Blaine presided over some of the most exciting scenes 
and sessions of the House, the approval he secured is 
especially noticeable. 

AGAIN ON THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE. 

The Forty-fourth Congress — which was elected in 
f the Democratic ''tidal wave " of 18T4, and which met 
4 



38 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



December 6, 18*75 — had a large Democratic majorit}^, 
and elected Michael C. Kerr, of Indiana, Speaker. 
Mr. Blaine took his place on the floor of the Honse 
as the recognized leader of the Republican minority. 
In a sudden tilt, in a daT, by his aggressive and un- 
expected tactics, he changed a victorious and exultant 
Democratic majority into a surprised, subdued and 
saddened crowd. The debates of that memorable ses- 
sion on the proposition to remove the disabilities of 
Jefferson Davis are still fresh in people's minds. The 
excitements growing out of that exciting session 
brought Mr. Blaine more prominentl}^ before the 
countrj^ than any other citizen of the time, centered 
upon him a hostility more malignant and a love far 
more enthusiastic than are often inspired b}^ public 
service. The following are the most important of 
Mr. Blaine's speeches during that eventful session of 
Congress : 

On Januar}^, 10, 18T6, Mr. Blaine spoke on the 
Amnesty bill as follows : 

The House having under consideration the bill (H. 
R. 214) to remove the disabilities imposed by the 
Third Section of the Fourteenth Article of the Amend- 
ment of the Constitution of the United States, the 
pending question being on the motion of Mr. Blaine 
to reconsider the motion by which the bill was 
repealed. 

Mr. Blaine : Mr. Speaker.^ I rise to a privileged 
(piestion. I move to reconsider the vote which has 
just been declared. I propose to debate that motion, 
and novr give notice that, if the motion to reconsider 
is agreed to, it is m}^ intention to offer the amendment 
which has been read several times. I will not delaj^ 
the House to have it read again. 



AGAIN ON THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE. 



39 



Every time the question of amnesty has been 
brought before the House, by a gentleman on that 
side for the last two Congresses, it has been clone 
with a certain flourish of magnanimity which is an 
imputation on this side of the House, as though the 
Republican party which has been in charge of the 
Government for the last twelve or fourteen years had 
been bigoted, narrow, and illiberal, and as though 
certain very worthy and deserving gentlemen in the 
Souhtern States were ground down to-da^^ under a 
great tjY2innj and oppression, from which the hard- 
heartedness of this side of the House cannot possibly 
be prevailed upon to relieve them. 

If I may anticipate as much wisdom as ought to 
characterize that side of the House, this ma}^ be the 
last time that amnest}^ will be discussed in the Amer- 
ican Congress. I therefore desire, and under the 
rules of the House, with no thanks to that side for 
the privilege, to place on record just what the Repub- 
lican party has done in this matter. I wish to place 
it there as an imperishable record of liberality and 
large-mindedness, and magnanimit}^, and merc}^ far 
beyond any that has ever been shown before in the 
world's histor}^ by conqueror to conquered. 

With the gentleman from Penns^dvania, (Mr. Ran- 
dall) I entered Congress in the midst of the hot 
flame of war, when the Union was rocking to its 
foundations, and no man knew whether we were to 
have a countr}^ or not. I think the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania would have been surprised, when he and 
I were novices in the Thirty-eighth Congress, if he 
could have foreseen before our joint service ended, we 
should have seen sixty-one gentlemen, then in arms 
against us, admitted to equal privileges with ourselves, 



40 JAMES G. BLAINE. 

and all by the grace and magnanimity of the Repub- 
lican party. When the war ended, according to the 
universal usages of nations, the Government, then 
under the exclusive control of the Republican part}", 
had the right to determine what should be the politi- 
cal status of the people who had been defeated in war. 
Did we inaugurate an}- measures of persecution ? Did 
we set forth on a career of bloodshed and vengeance ? 
Did we take property" ? Did we prohibit any man all 
his civil rights ? Did we take away from him the 
right he enjoys to-day to vote? 

]Si ot at all. But instead of a general and sweeping 
condemnation the Republican party placed in the 
Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution only this 
exclusion ; after considering the whole subject it 
ended it, simply coming down to this : 

That no person shall be a Senator or Represen- 
tative in Congress, or Elector of President or Vice- 
President, or hold any office, civil or military, under 
the United States or under any State, who, having 
previousl}^ taken an oath as a member of Congress, 
or as an officer of the United States, or as a member 
of any State Legislature, or as an executive or judi- 
cial officer of any State, to support the Constitution 
of the United States shall have enoao-ed in insurrec- 
tion or rebellion against the same, or given aid or 
comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, 
by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such 
disability. 

It has been variously estimated that this Section at 
the time of its original insertion in the Constitution 
included somewhere from fourteen to thirt}^ thousand 
persons ; as nearly as I can gather together the facts 
of the case, it included about eighteen thousand men 
in the South. It let go every man of the hundreds 
of thousands — or millions, if you please — who had 



AGAIN ON THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE. 



41 



been engaged in the attempt to destroy this Govern- 
ment, and only held those under disability who in ad- 
dition to revolting had violated a special and peculiar 
and personal oath to support the Constitution of the 
United States. It was limited to that. 

Well, that disability was hardh' placed upon the 
South until we began in this hall and in the other 
wing of the Capitol, when there were more than two- 
thirds Kepublicans in both branches, to remit it, and 
the ver}' first bill took that disability off from 1.5 T 8 
citizens of the South ; and the next bill took it off 
from 3,526 gentlemen — by wholesale. Many of the 
gentlemen on this floor came in for grace and amnesty 
in those two bills. After these bills specifying indi- 
viduals had passed, and others, of smaller numbers, 
which I will not recount, the Congress of the United 
States in 1872, by two-thirds of both branches, still 
being two-thirds Republican, passed this general law: 

That all political disabilities imposed by the Third 
Section of the Fourteenth Article of Amendments of 
the Constitution of the United States are hereby re- 
moved -from all persons whomsoever, except Senators 
and Representatives of the Thirty-sixth and Thirty- 
seventh Congresses, officers in the judicial, militar}^, 
and naval service of the United States, heads of de- 
partments, and foreign ministers of the United 
States. 

Since that act passed a very considerable number 
of the gentlemen which are still left under disability 
have been relieved specially, by name, in separate 
acts. But I believe, Mr. Speaker, in no single in- 
stance since the Act of May 22, 1872, have the dis- 
abilities been taken from any man except upon his 
respectful petition to the Congress of the United 
States that they should be removed. And I believe 



42 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



in no instance, except one, have they been refused 
upon the petition being presented. I believe in no 
instance, except one, has there been any other than 
a unanimous vote. 

Now, I find there are wideh^ varying opinions in 
regard to the number that are still under disabilities 
in the South. 

I have had occasion, by conference with the De- 
partments of War and of the Navy, and with the as- 
sistance of some records which I have caused to be 
searched, to be able to state to the House, I believe, 
with more accuracy than it has been stated hitherto, 
just the number of gentlemen in the South still under 
disabilities. Those who were officers of the United 
States Arm}' , educated at its own expense at West 
Point, and who joined the rebellion, and are still in- 
cluded under this Act, number, as nearly as the War 
Department can figure it up, 325 ; those in the Navy 
about 295. Those under the other heads, Senators 
and Representatives of the Thirty-sixth and Thirt}^- 
seventh Congresses, officers in the judiciar}' service 
of the United States, heads of departments, and 
foreign ministers of the United States, make up a 
number somewhat more difficult to state accurately, 
but smaller in the aggregate. The whole sum of the 
entire list is about — it is probably impossible to state 
it with entire accuracy, and I do not attempt to do 
that — is about T50 persons now under disabilities. 

I am very frank to say that in regard to all these 
gentlemen, save one, I do not know of any reason why 
amnest}^ should not be granted to them as it has been 
to many others of the same class. I am not here to 
argue against it. The gentlemen from Iowa (Mr. 
Kas80n) suggests on their application." I am 



AGAIN ON THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE. 43 

coming to that. But as I have said, seeing in this 
list, as I have examined it with some care, no gentle- 
man to whom I think there would be any objection, 
since amnesty has alread}^. become so general — and 
I am not going back of that question to argue it — I 
am in favor of granting it them. But in the absence 
of this respectful form of application, which, since 
Ma}^ 22, 1872, has become a sort of common law as 
preliminar}' to amnesty, I simply wish to put in 
that they shall go before a United States Court, and 
in open court, with uplifted hand, swear that they 
mean to conduct themselves as good citizens of the 
United States. That is all. 

Now, gentlemen may sa}^ that this is a foolish 
exaction. Possibly it is. But, somehow or other, I 
have a prejudice in favor of it. And there are some 
pretty points in it that appeal as well to prejudice as 
to conviction. For one, I do not want to impose 
citizenship on any gentleman. If I am correct!}' 
informed, and I state it onh' on rumor, there are 
some gentlemen in this list who have spoken con- 
temptuousl}" of the idea of their taking citizenship, 
and haA^e spoken still more contemptuously of the 
idea of their applying for citizenship. I may state it 
wrongly, and if I do I am willing to be corrected ; 
but I understand that Mr. Robert Toombs has, on 
several occasions, at watering places both in this 
country and in Europe, stated that he would not ask 
the United States for citizenship. 

Very well, we can stand it about as well as Mr. 
Robert Toombs can. And if Mr. Robert Toombs is 
not prepared to go into court of the United States 
and swear that he means to be a good citizen, let him 
stay out. I do not think that the two Houses of 



44 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



Congress should convert themselves into a joint eon- 
A^ention for the purpose of embracing Mr. Robert 
Toombs and gushingly request him to favor us by 
coming back to accept of all the honors of citizenship. 
That is the whole. All I ask is that each of these 
gentlemen shall show his good faith by coming for- 
ward and taking the oath which 3'ou on that side of 
the House, and we on this side of the House, and all 
of us take, and gladly take. It is a ver}^ small exac- 
tion to make as a preliminar}' to a full restoration to 
all the rights of citizenship. 

In m}^ amendment, Mr. Speaker, I have excepted 
Jefferson Davis from its operation. Now I do not 
place it on the ground that Mr. Davis was, as he has 
been commonl}^ called, the head and front of the re- 
bellion, because on that ground I do not think the 
excei)tion would be tenable. Mr. Davis was just as 
guilty, no more so, no less so, than thousands of 
others, who have already received the benefit and 
grace of amnesty. Probabl}^ he was far less eflficient 
as an enemy of the United States ; probabl}^ he was 
far more useful as a disturber of the councils of the 
Confederacy than many who have already received 
amnesty. It is not because of any particular and 
special damage that he above others did to the Union, 
or because he was personally or especially of conse- 
quence, that I except him. But I except him on this I 
ground : that he was the author, knowingly, delibe- 
rately, guiltily, and willfully, of the gigantic murders 
and crimes at Andersonville. 

A Memuer. And Libb}^ 

Mil. Blatne. Libby pales into insignificance before 
And(;rs()nville. I place it on that ground, and I be- 
lieve t,o-(lny, Mint so i-n])idiy (Ux^.s one event follow on 



AGAIN ON THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE. 



45 



the heels of another in the rapid age in which we live, 
that even those of us who were contemporaneous with 
what was transpiring there, and still less those who 
have grown up since, fail to remember the gigantic 
crime then committed. 

Sir, since the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Randall) introduced this bill last month, I have taken 
occasion to re-read some of the historic cruelties of the 
world. 

I have read over the details of those atrocious 
murders of the Duke of Alva in the Low Countries, 
which are always mentioned with a thrill of horror 
throughout Christendom. I have read the details of 
the massacre of Saint Bartholomew, that stand out 
in history as one of those atrocities be^^ond imagi- 
nation. I have read anew the horrors untold and 
unimaginable of the Spanish Inquisition. And I here 
before God, measuring my words, knowing their full 
extent and import, declare that neither the deeds of 
the Duke of Alva in the Low Countries, nor the 
massacre of Saint Bartholomew, nor the thumb- 
screws and engines of torture of the Spanish Inqui- 
sition begin to compare in atrocit}' with the hideous 
crime of Andersonville. [Applause on the floor and 
in the galleries]. 

Mr. Bobbins, of North Carolina. That is an in- 
famous slander. 

The Speaker. If such demonstrations are repeated 
in the galleries the Chair will order them to be cleared. 

Mr. Blaine. Thank God, Mr. Speaker, that while 
this Congress was under different control from that 
which exists here to-day, with a committee composed 
of both sides and of both branches, that tale of horror 
was placed where it cannot be denied or gainsaid. 



46 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



I hold in my hand the story written out by a com- 
mittee of Congress. I state that Winder who is dead, 
was sent to Anders onville with a full knowledge of 
his previous atrocities ; that these atrocities in Rich- 
mond were so fearful, so terrible, that Confederate 
papers, the Richmond Examiner fov one, stated when 
he was gone that, ''Thank God, Richmond is rid of 
his presence." We in the I^orth knew from returning 
skeletons what he had accomplished at Belle Isle and 
Libb}", and fresh from those accomplishments he was 
sent b}^ Mr. Davis, against the protest of others in 
the Confederacy, to construct this den of horrors at 
Andersonville. 

Now, of course, it would be utterly beyond the 
scope of the occasion and beyond the limits of my 
hour for me to go into details. But in arraigning Mr. 
Davis I undertake here to say that I will not ask an}^ 
gentleman to take the testimonj^ of a single Union 
soldier. I ask them to take only the testimony of 
men who themselves were engaged and enlisted in the 
Confederate cause. And if that testimony does not 
entirely carry out and justify the declaration I have 
made, then I will state that I have been entirely in 
error in my reading. 

After detailing the preparation of that prison, the 
arrangements made with hideous cruelty for the 
victims, the report which I hold in my hand, and 
which was concurred in by Democratic members as 
well as Republican members of Congress, states this — 
and I beg members to hear it, for it is far more im- 
pressive than anything I can say. After, I say, giving 
full details, the report states: 

The sul)sequent history of Andersonville has 
startled and shocked the world with a tale of horror, 



AGAIN ON THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE. 47 

of woe, and death before unheard and unknown to 
civilization. No pen can describe, no painter sketch, 
no imagination comprehend its fearful and unutterable 
iniquity. It would seem as if the concentrated mad- 
ness of earth and hell had found its final lodgment in 
the breast of those who inaugurated the rebellion and 
controlled the policy of the Confederate Government, 
and that the prison at Andersonville had been selected 
for the most terrible human sacrifice which the world 
has ever seen. Into its narrow walls were crowded 
thirtj'-five thousand enlisted men, mau}^ of them the 
bravest and best, the most devoted and heroic of those 
grand armies which carried the fiag of their country to 
final victor3\ For long and weary months here they 
suffered, maddened, were murdered and died. Here 
the}^ lingered, unsheltered from the burning rays of 
a tropical sun by day, and drenching and deadly dews 
by night, in ever}' stage of mental and physical dis- 
ease, hungered, emaciated, starving, maddened ; fes- 
tering with unhealed wounds ; gnawed b}^ the rav- 
ages of scurvy and gangrene ; with swollen limb and 
distorted visage ; covered with vermin which they 
had no power to extirpate ; exposed to the flooding 
rains which drove them drowning from the miserable 
holes in which, like swine, the}^ burrowed ; parched 
with thirst and mad with hunger ; racked with pain 
or prostrated with the weakness of dissolution ; with 
naked limbs and matted hair ; filthy with smoke and 
mud ; soiled with the very excrement from which 
their weakness would not permit them to escape ; 
eaten by the gnawing: worms which their own wounds 
had engendered ; with no bed but the earth; no cover- 
ing save the cloud or the sky; tliese men, these he- 
roes, born in the image of God, thus crouching and 
writhing in their terrible torture and calculating bar- 
barit}^, stand forth in histor}^ as a monument of the 
surpassing horrors of Andersonville as it shall be 
seen and read in all future time, realizing in the 
studied torments of their prison-house the ideal of 
Dante's Inferno and Milton's Hell. 

I undertake to sa}^, from reading the testimony, 



48 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



that that is a moderate description. I will read but 
a single paragraph from the testimony of Rev. William 
John Hamilton , a man I believe who never was in the 
North, a Catholic priest at Macon. He is a Southern 
man, and a Democrat, and a Catholic priest. And 
when 3^ou unite those three qualities in one man 3^ou 
will not find much testimony that would be strained 
in favor of the Republican party. [Laughter.] 

This man had gone to Andersonville on a mission 
of mere}' to the men of his own faith, to administer 
to them the rights of his church in their last moments. 
That is why he happened to be a witness. I will read 
his answer under oath to a question addressed to him 
in regard to the bodily condition of the prisoners. 
He said : 

Well, as I said before, when I went there I was 
kept so busily engaged in giving the sacrament to the 
dying men that I could not observe much ; but of 
course I could not keep my eyes closed as to what I 
saw here. I saw a great many men perfectly naked — 

[Their clothes had been taken away from them as 
other testimony shows.] 

walking about the stockade perfectly nude ; they 
seemed to have lost all regard for delicacy, shame, 
morality, or anything else. I would frequently have 
to creep on my hands and knees into the holes that 
the men had burrowed in the ground, and stretch my- 
self out alongside of them to hear their confessions. 
I found them almost living in vermin in those holes ; 
they could not be in an}^ other condition but a filthy 
one because they got no soap and no change of cloth- 
ing, aud were there all huddled up together. 

Let me read further from the same witness another 
specimen : 

The first person I conversed with on entering the 
stockade was a countryman of mine, a member of the 



AGAIN ON THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE. 49 

Catholic Church, who recognized me as a clergyman. 
I think his name was Farrell. He was from the iSTorth 
of Ireland. He came towards me and introduced 
himself. He was quite a bo}^ ; I do not think, judg- 
ing from his appearance, that he could have been 
more than sixteen years old. I found him without 
a hat and without any covering on his feet, and with- 
out jacket or coat. He told me that his shoes had been 
taken from him on the battle-field. I found the boy 
suffering very much from a wound on his right foot ; 
in fact the foot was split open like an oj^ster ; and on 
inquiring the cause they told me it was from exposure 
to the sun in the stockade, and not from au}^ wound 
received in battle. I took off my boots and gave him 
a pair of socks to cover his feet and told him I would 
bring him some clothing, as I expected to return to 
Andersonville the following week. I had to return to 
Macon to get another priest to take my place on 
Sunda}^ When I returned on the following week, on 
inquiring for this man Farrell, his companions told 
me he had stepped across the dead-line and requested 
the guards to shoot him. He was not insane at the 
time I was conversing with him. 

^ow, Mr. Speaker, I do not desire to go into such 
horrible details as these for any purpose of arousing 
bad feeling. I wish only to say that the man who 
administered the affairs of that prison went there by 
order of Mr. Davis, was sustained by him ; and this 
William John Hamilton, from whose testimony I 
have read, states here that he went to General Howell 
Cobb, commanding that department, and asked that 
intelligence as to the condition of affairs there be 
transmitted to the Confederate Government at Rich- 
mond. For the matter of that, there are a great 
many proofs to show that Mr. Davis was thoroughly 
informed as to the condition of affairs at Anderson- 
ville. 

One word more, and I shall lay aside this book. 



50 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



When the march of General Sherman, or some other 
invasion of that portion of the countr}^, was under 
way, there was clanger, or supposed danger, that it 
might come into the neighborhood of Andersonville ; 
and the folloATing order — to which I invite the atten- 
tion of the House — a regular military order — order 
No. 13, dated Headquarters Confederate States mili- 
tary prison, Andersonville, July 2t, 1864, was issued 
by Brigadier-General John H. Winder : 

The officers on duty and in charge of the batter}' 
of Florida artiller}" at the time, will, upon receiving 
notice that the enem}^ have approached within seven 
miles of this post, ojjen fire upon the stockade ivith 
grape-shot without reference to the situation beyond 
these lines of defense. 

Now, here were these 35,000 poor, helpless, naked, 
starving, sickened, dying men. This Catholic priest 
states that he begged Mr. Cobb to represent that if 
they could not exchange those men, or could not 
relieve them in anv other way, they should be taken 
to the Union lines in Florida and paroled ; for the}^ 
were shadows, they were skeletons. Yet it was de- 
clared by a regular order of Mr. Davis' officer, that if 
the Union forces should come within seven miles the 
batter}^ of Florida artillery should open fire with 
grape-shot on these poor, helpless men, without the 
slightest possible regard to what was going on out- 
side. 

Now I do not arraign the Southern people for this. 
God forbid tliat I should charge any people with 
sympathizing with such things. There were many evi- 
dences of great uneasiness among the Southern people 
about it; and one of the great crimes of Jefferson Davis 
was, that ])esides conniving at and producing that 



AGAIN ON THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE. 51 

condition of things, he concealed it from the Sonthern 
people. He labored not only to conceal it, but to 
make false statements about it. We have obtained, 
and have now in the Congressional Library, a com- 
plete series of Mr. Davis' messages — the official 
imprint from Richmond. I have looked over them, 
and I have here an extract from his message of 
November T, 1864, at the ver}^ time that these horrors 
were at their acme. Mark you, when those horrors of 
which I have read specimens were at their extremest 
verge of desperation, Mr. Davis sends a message to 
the Confederate Congress at Richmond, in which hie 
says : 

The solicitude of the Government for the relief of 
our captive fellow citizens has known no abatement, 
but has on the contrarj^ been still more deeply evoked 
by the additional sufferings to which they have been 
wantonly subjected by deprivation of adequate food, 
clothing, and fuel, which they were not even permitted 
to purchase from the prison sutler. 

And he adds that — 

The enem}^ attempted to excuse their barbarous 
treatment by the unfounded allegation that it was 
retaliatory for like conduct on our part. 

Now I undertake here to sa}^ that there is not a 
Confederate soldier now living who has any credit as 
a man in his community, and who ever was a prisoner 
in the hands of the Union forces, who will say that 
he ever was cruell}' treated ; and that he ever was de- 
prived of the same rations that the Union soldiers 
had — the same food and the same clothing. 

Mr. Cook. .Thousands of them say it — thousands 
of them ; men of as high character as any in this 
House. 

Mr. Blaine. I take issue upon that. There is 



52 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



not one who can substantiate it — not one. As for 
measures of retaliation, although goaded by this 
terrific treatment of our friends imprisoned by Mr. 
Davis, the Senate of the United States specifically 
refused to pass a resolution of retaliation, as con- 
trary to modern civilization and the first precepts of 
Christianity. And there was no retaliation attempted 
or justified. It was refused ; and Mr. Davis knew it 
was refused just as well as I knew it or any other 
man, because what took place in Washington or what 
took place at Richmond was known on either side of 
the line within a da}^ or two thereafter. 

Mr. Speaker, this is not a proposition to punish 
Jefferson Davis. There is nobod}^ attempting that. 
I will very frankly sa}^ that I myself thought the 
indictment of Mr. Davis at Richmond, under the 
Administration of Mr. Johnson, was a weak attempt, 
for he was indicted only for that of which he was 
guilt}^ in common with all others who went into the 
Cou federate movement. Therefore, there was no par- 
ticular reason for it. But I will undertake to say 
this, and, as it may be considered an extreme speech, 
I want to say it with great deliberation, that there is 
not a government, a civilized government, on the face 
of the globe — I am very sure there is not a European 
government — that would not have arrested Mr. Davis, 
and when they had him in their power would not have 
tried him for maltreatment of the prisoners of war 
and shot him within thirty days. France, Russia, Eng- 
land. Germany, Austria, any one of them would have 
done it. The poor victim, Wirz, deserved his death 
for brutal treatment and murder of many victims, but 
I always thought it was a weak movement on the 
part of our Government to allow Jefferson Davis to 



AGAIN ON THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE. 



53 



go at large aiicl hang Wirz. I confess I do. Wirz was 
nothing in the world but a mere subordinate, a tool, 
and there was no special reason for singling him out 
for death. I do not say he did not deserve it — he did, 
richly, amply, full3^ He deserved no mercy, but at 
the same time, as I have often said, it seemed like skip- 
ping over the President, Superintendent, and Board 
of Directors, in the case of a great railroad accident, 
and hanging the brakeman of the rear car. [Laughter.] 

There is no proposition here to punish Jefferson 
Davis. Nobod}^ is seeking to do it. That time has 
gone by. The statute of limitations, common feel- 
ings of humanity, will supervene for his benefit. But 
what you ask us to do is to declare, b}' a vote of two- 
thirds of both branches of Congress, that we consider 
Mr. Davis worth}^ to fill the highest oflftces in the 
United States, if he can get a constituency to endorse 
him. He is a voter ; he can buy and he can sell ; he 
can go and he can come. He is as free as any man in 
the United States. There is a large list of subordi- 
nate offices to which he is eligible. This bill pro- 
poses, in view of that record, that Mr. Davis, by a 
two-thirds vote of the Senate and a two-thirds vote of 
the House, be declared eligible and worth}^ to fill any 
office up to the Presidency of the United States. For 
one, npon full deliberation, I will not do it. 

One word more, Mr. Speaker, in the way of detail, 
which I omitted. It has often been said in mitigation 
of Jefi'erson Davis, in the Andersonville matter, that 
the men who died there in such large numbers (I think 
the victims were about fifteen thousand) fell prey to 
an epidemic, and died of a disease which could not be 
averted. The record shows that out of thirt3'-five 
thousand men about thirty-three per cent, died, that 
5 



54 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



is one in three, while of the soldiers encamped near 
b}' to take care and guard them only one man in four 
hundred died; that is, within half-a-mile, onl}^ one in 
four hundred died. 

As to the general question of amnest};^, Mr. Speaker, 
as I have already said, it is too late to debate it. It 
has gone by. Whether it has in all respects been wise, 
or whether it has been unwise, I would not detain the 
House here to discuss. Even if I had a strong con- 
viction upon that question, I do not know that it 
would be productive of any great good to enunciate 
it ; but, at the same time, it is a very singular spec- 
tacle that the Republican part}^, in possession of the 
entire Government, have deliberately called back into 
political power the leading men of the South, every 
one of whom turns up its bitter and relentless and 
malignant foe ; and to-day, from the Potomac to the 
Rio Grande, the ver}^ men who have received this 
amnesty are as bus}^ as the^^ can be in consolidating 
into one compact political organization the old slave 
States, just as they were before the war. We see the 
banner held out blazoned again with the inscription 
that with the United South and a very few votes from 
the North this country can be governed. I want the 
people to understand that is precisely the movement ; 
and that is the animus and the intent. I do not think 
offering amnesty to the seven hundred and fift}^ men 
who are now without it will hasten or retard that 
movement. I do not think the granting of amnest}^ 
to Mr. Davis will hasten or retard it, or that refusing- 
it will do either. 

I hear it said, "We will lift Mr. Davis again into great 
consequence by refusing amnesty." That is not for 
me to consider; T only see before me, when his name 



AGAIN ON THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE. 



55 



is presented, a man who by the wink of his e^^e, by a 
wave of his hand, by a nod of his head, could have 
stopped the atrocit}' at Andersonvil.le. 

Some of us had Idnsmen there, most of us had 
friends there, all of us had countrymen there, and in 
the name of those kinsmen, friends, and countrymen, 
I here protest, and shall with m}^ vote protest against 
their calling back and crowning with the honors of 
full American citizenship the man who organized that 
murder. 

To this speech of Mr. Blaine's the Hon. Benjamin 
H. Hill, of Georgia, replied in lengthy speeches on 
the two following days (Januarj' 11 and 12, 1876). 

On the 13th of January, Mr. Blaine replied to Mr. 
Hill's remarks. 

The following is an extract from Mr. Blaine's re- 
marks during the debate on the Amnesty Bill in the 
House of Representatives, Januarj' 13, 1876 : 

In connection with one point in history there is 
something which I should feel it m^^ duty, not merely 
as a member of the Republican party which upheld 
the Administration that conducted the war, but as a 
citizen of the American Union, to resist and resent, 
and that is the allegations that were made in regard 
to the manner in which Confederate prisoners Avere 
treated in the prisons of the Union. The gentleman 
from Georgia said : 

" I have also proved that with all the horrors you 
have made such a noise about as occurring at Ander- 
son\511e, greater horrors occurred in the prisons where 
our troops were held." 

And I could not but admire the '^our" and ''your" 
with which the gentleman conducted the whole dis- 
cussion. It ill comported with his later professions 



56 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



of Unionism. It was certainl}' flinging the shadow 
of a dead Confederacy a long way over the dial of 
the National Honse of Representatives. And I 
think the gentleman from New York fell into a little 
of the same line. Of that I shall speak again. The 
gentleman from Georgia goes on to say that — 

" The atrocities of Andersonville do not begin to 
compare with the atrocities of Elmira, of Camp 
Donglas, of Fort Delaware ; and of all the atrocities 
both at Andersonville and Elmira the Confederate 
anthorities stand acquitted." 

Mr. Hill. Will the gentleman allow me a moment ? 

Mr. Blaine. I yield for a moment. 

Mr. Hill. I certainly said no such thing. I stated 
distinctly that I brought no charge of crime against 
anybod3\ But I also stated distinctly that according 
to the gentleman's logic that result followed. 

Mr. Blaine. But that is not the reported speech at 
all. 

Mr. Hill. I stated distinctly that I was following 
the gentleman's logic. 

Mr. Blaine. I am quoting the gentleman's speech 
as he delivered it. I quote it as it appeared in the 
Daily Chronicle and the Associated Press report. I 
do not pretend to be bound b}^ the version which may 
appear hereafter, because I observed that the gentle- 
man from New York (Mr. Cox) spoke one speech 
and published another, [great laughterj and I sup- 
pose the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Hill) will do 
the same. I admit that the gentleman has a difficult 
role to play. He has to harmonize himself with the 
great Northern Democracy, and keep himself in high 
line as a Democratic candidate for Senator from 
Georgia, and it is a very difficult thing to reconcile 



AGAIN ON THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE. 57 

the two. [Laughter.] The ' Barn-burner Democrats ' 
in 1853 tried very hard to adhere to their anti-slavery 
principles in New York and still support the Pierce 
Administration ; and Mr. Greeley, with that inimita- 
ble humor which he possessed, said that they found 
it very hard to straddle, like a militia general on 
parade on Broadway, who finds it an almost impossi- 
ble task to follow the music and dodge the omni- 
buses. [Laughter.] And that is what the gentleman 
does. The gentleman tries to keep step to the music 
of the Union and dodge his fire-eating constituency 
in Georgia. [Great laughter.] 

I confess — and I say it to the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Hill) with no personal unkindness — I 
confess that my very blood boiled, if there was any- 
thing of tradition, of memory, of feeling, it boiled 
when I heard the gentleman, with his record which I 
have read, seconded and sustained by the gentleman 
from New York, arraigning the Administration of 
Abraham Lincoln, throwing obloqu}^ and slander 
upon the grave of Edwin M. Stanton, and demand- 
ing that Jefferson Davis should be restored to full 
citizenship in this country. Ah ! that is a novel 
spectacle ; the gentleman from Georgia does not 
know how novel ; the gentleman from New York 
ought to know. The gentleman from Georgia does 
not know, and he cannot know, how many hundred 
thousands of Northern bosoms were lacerated b}^ his 
course. 

These are Mr. Blaine's remarks on Riders on Ap- 
propriation Bills, in the House, March 21, 1876 : 

One of the evils that have come down to us from 
the experience of the British House of Commons, 
one that almost every State Legislature finds it neces- 



58 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



sary to guard against, one that we are warned against 
at the very threshold of our business here, is to keep 
general legislation off 3^our appropriation bills. Now, 
the rule which the gentleman has put into our book 
(which I have no doubt that in its motive it was just 
as pure and equitable as it could be) opens the door 
to all manner and measure of abuse. The gentleman 
says that it was a considerable time before the old 
rule bore its full fruit of evil. This new rule which 
the gentleman has introduced may, like a new broom, 
sweep clear for a time; but I tell him, with some 
little experience in this matter — and he has even 
more than I — that, unless I entirely mistake the 
tendenc}^ and operation of rules of this kind, this 
will ultimately open the door to immeasurable abuses 
which the other was not competent to inflict. By 
the operation of this rule, under the idea of retrench- 
ing salaries, you may have all imaginable vicious legis- 
lation affecting the rights of the people, changing 
radicall}^ the laws of the countrj^, interfering with 
every possible human right that may be reached by 
Congressional enactment. Every conceivable meas- 
ure of that kind may be piled upon an appropriation 
bill ; and under the thumb-screw, under the pressure 
that attends legislation on appropriation bills, you thus 
force through Congress what in its calmer moments, 
upon the reports of appropriation committees, would 
never even get a respectable hearing in this House. 
In that view I think the rule is utterly vicious. 

The following are remarks b}^ Mr. Blaine on the Bill 
" Making it a misdemeanor for any person in the em- 
ploy of the United States to demand or contribute 
Election Funds," in the House of Representatives, 
March 21, 1876 : 



AGAIN ON THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE. 



59 



Mr. Blaine. I have run seven times for Congress, 
and I never contributed so much as a postage stamp 
for an}^ improper purpose in securing my election ; 
but I could indicate gentlemen who, if rumor is to be 
trusted, have spent very large sums in political cam- 
paigns. 

On the same bill, March 22, 18Y6 : 

Mr. Blaine. It was very well remarked yesterday 
by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Hoar), 
that the worst form of government in the world to 
live under is a government of the people when the 
majority is bribed ; and he stated ver}^ well that there 
was only one thing worse than the bribing of voters, 
and that was the fraudulent count of the votes after 
they were deposited in the ballot-box. 

Bad as bribing the voter is, and it is an unendura- 
ble evil almost, it is not so bad as bold, naked fraud 
in the count. There you have literall}^ taken away 
the foundations of free government. A fraud in the 
count is the destruction of Republican government. 
One or two men may do more there than a thousand 
bribed men can do outside. ^ * This 
country demands elections shall be pure. There is 
not an honest man in either part}^ who does not desire 
it. Without that all government is a failure; and, 
sir, there is a widespread conviction to-day that 
in a good mau}^ of the States of this Union it is 
impossible to get a fair election. That the persons 
entitled to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment to 
the Constitution, the colored voters, get a fair show 
and equal chance to deposit their ballots is not be- 
lieved b}^ ten honest men North of Mason and Dixon's 
line, in my judgment. ^ invite 



60 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



you to go with iis in providing, after we shall have 
destroA^ed briber}^ outside of the polling-booth, that 
3^ou shall not have the embodiment of rascalit}^ behind 
it to vitiate and destroy the purit\^ of elections within. 

NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CONVENTION OF 18i[6. 

Mr. Blaine's dash and brillianc}' as the Republican 
leader on the floor of the House made him the great 
popular favorite among the Republican masses, and 
brought him prominently forward as a candidate for 
the Republican nomination for President in 1876. 
Maine, his adopted State, took the lead, the Republi- 
can State Convention at Augusta, January 20,1876, 
appointing the first delegation instructed in his favor. 
Other Northern States followed, so that he was the 
most prominent and the most popular of all the Repub- 
lican candidates for the nomination. Other prominent 
candidates were United States Senators Roscoe Conk- 
ling, of New York, and Oliver P. Morton, of Indiana, 
and Secretary of the Treasur}' Benjamin H. Bristow, 
of Kentucky. Pennsylvania presented the name of 
Governor John P. Hartranft, and Ohio brought for- 
ward Governor Rutherford B. Ha^^es. 

In Ma}^, 1876, slanderous charges were made in 
Congress against Mr. Blaine's character, and the 
Democratic Congress instituted an investigation con- 
cerning charges concerning his relations with the 
Union Pacific Railway ; but Mr. Blaine succeeded in 
vindicating himself against these malignant attacks 
upon his reputation and strengthened himself in the 
affections of the masses. About the time of the meet- 
ing of the Republican National Convention at Cincin- 
nati, near the middle of June, 187 6, Mr. Blaine fell a vic- 
tim to sunstroke in Washington, but soon recovered. 



NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CONVENTION OF 18^6. 61 



The Republican National Convention assembled in 
Exposition Hall, in Cincinnati, June 14, 1876. Mr. 
Blaine was the strongest candidate before the Con- 
vention, and the organization of the Convention ap- 
peared to be in his favor. The first da}^ was occupied 
with the organization and with speeches from various 
delegates. The second day of the Convention (June 
15, 1816,) was taken up with the adoption of the plat- 
form and the naming of candidates. When the roll 
of States was called, Mr. Kellogg, of Connecticut, 
nominated Marshall Jewell, of that State ; R. W. 
Thompson, of Indiana, nominated Oliver P. Morton ; 
General Harlan, of Kentucky, nominated Benjamin 
H. Bristow ; Robert G. Ingersoll, of Illinois, nomi- 
nated James G. Blaine, of Maine, in a neat speech ; 
General Stewart L. Woodford, of New York, nomi- 
nated Roscoe Conkling; Ex-Governor Xoj^es, of 
Ohio, nominated Governor Hayes ; and Linn Bar- 
tholomew, of Pennsylvania, nominated Governor 
Hartranft. The following is Col. Ingersoll 's speech 
nominating Mr. Blaine: 

"The Republicans of the United States demand as 
their leader in the great contest of 18 76 a man of 
intelligence, a man of integrit}^, a man of well-known 
and approved political opinions. The}^ demand a 
statesman. They demand a reformer after, as well as 
before, the election. They demand a politician in the 
highest, broadest and best sense — a man of superb 
moral courage. They demand a man acquainted with 
public affairs, with the wants of the people, with not 
only the requirements of the hour, but with the de- 
mands of the future. They demand a man broad 
enough to comprehend the relations of this Govern- 
ment to the other nations of the earth. They demand 



62 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



a man well versed in the powers, duties and preroga- 
tives of each and every department of this Government. 
They demand a man who will sacredl}^ preserve the 
financial honor of the United States ; one who knows 
enough to know that the national debt must be paid 
through the prosperity of his people ; one who knows 
enough to know that all the financial theories in the 
world cannot redeem a single dollar ; one who knows 
enough to know that all the mone}^ must be made, 
not by law, but by labor ; one who knows enough to 
know that the people of the United States have the 
industry to make the mone}^ and the honor to pay it 
over just as fast as they make it. 

The Republicans of the United States demand a man 
who knows that prosperit}^ and resumption, when they 
come, must come together ; that when they come the}^ 
will come hand in hand through the golden harA^est 
fields ; hand in hand by the whirling spindles and the 
turning wheels ; hand in hand past the open furnace 
doors ; hand in hand by the flaming forges ; hand in 
hand by the chimnej's filled with eager fire, greeted 
and grasped b}^ the countless sons of toil. 

This money has to be dug out of the earth. You 
cannot make it bv passing resolutions in a political 
convention. 

The Republicans of the United States want a man 
who knows that this Government should protect every 
citizeu at home and abroad; who knows that any Gov- 
ernment that will not defend its defenders, and protect 
its protectors, is a disgrace to the map of the world. 
They demand a man who believes in the eternal sep- 
aration and divorcement of church and school. The}^ 
demand a man whose political reputation is spotless 
as a star ; but they do not demand that their candidate 



NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CONVENTION OF 18 16. 63 



shall have a certificate of moral character signed by a 
Confederate Congress. The man who has, in fnll, 
heaped, and rounded measure, all these splendid quali- 
fications, is the present grand and gallant leader of the 
Republican party — James G. Blaine. 

Our count r}^, crowned with the vast and marvelous 
achievements of its first century, asks for a man worthy 
of the past and prophetic of her future; asks for a 
man who has the audacity of genius : asks for a man 
who has the grandest combination of heart, conscience, 
and brain beneath her flag — such a man is James G. 
Blaine. 

For the Republican host, led by this intrepid man, 
there can be no defeat. 

This is a grand year — a year filled with the recollec- 
tions of the Revolution: filled with proud and tender 
memories of the past — with the sacred legends of 
Liberty — a year in which the sons of Freedom will 
drink from the fountains of enthusiasm — a year in 
which the people call for a man who has preserved in 
Congress what our soldiers won Uj^on the field — a jes.v 
in which the}^ call for the man who has torn from the 
throat of treason the tongue of slander; for the man 
who has snatched the mask of Democrac}^ from the 
hideous face of Rebellion ; for the man who, like an 
intellectual athlete, has stood in the arena of debate 
i and challenged all comers, and who is still a total 
I stranger to defeat. 

Like an armed warrior, like a plumed knight, James G. 
Blaine marched down tlie halls of the American Con- 
gress and threw his shining lance full and fair against 
i the brazen foreheads of the defamers of his country 
j and the maligners of his honor. For the Republican 
t party to desert this gallant leader now is as though an 



64 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



army should desert their general upon the field of 
battle. 

James G. Blaine is now and has been for years 
the bearer of the sacred standard of the Republican 
part}^ I call it sacred, because no human being can 
stand beneath its folds without becoming and without 
remaining free. 

Gentlemen of the Convention: In the name of the 
great Republic, the o\\\j Republic that ever existed 
upon this earth ; in the name of all her defenders and 
of all her supporters ; in the name of all her soldiers 
living ; in the name of all her soldiers dead upon the 
field of battle, and in the name of those who perished 
in the skeleton clutch of famine at Andersonville and 
Libby, whose sufferings he so vividly remembers, 
Illinois — Illinois nominates for the next President of 
this countr^^ that prince of parliamentarians, that 
leader of leaders, James Gr. Blaine. 

On the third and last day of the convention the 
balloting for candidates took place with the following 
results : 



candidates. 


First Ballot 


Second Ballot 


Third Ballot 


Fourth Ballot 


Fifth Ballot . 


Sixth Ballot 


Seventh Ballot 




298 


296 


293 


292 


286 


308 


351 




114 


113 


121 


126 


114 


111 


21 


Conkling 


93 


99 


90 


84 


82 


81 






111 


124 


113 


108 


95 


85 




Hartianft 


63 


58 


68 


71 


69 


50 






64 


61 


67 


68 


104 


113 


384 




11 


11 














3 


3 


2 


2 


2 


2 




Wash hii rue 


1 


1 


1 


3 


3 


4 





IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



65 



Governor Rutherford Biirchard Hayes, of Oliio.hav- 
*ing the majority of the whole number of votes, was 
declared the nominee of the Rei^ublican party for 
President of the IJnited States in 1876. The Hon. 
Wm. A. Wheeler, of New York, was then nominated 
for Yice President, and the Convention adjourned 
sine die. Mr. Blaine's failure to receive the nomina- 
tion was a sad disappointment to the great mass of 
Republicans throughout the countr}^ To thousands 
in his native State, Pennsylvania, his defeat came as 
something like a personal grief. During the campaign 
Mr. Blaine devoted himself earnesth^ to the election 
of Governor Haj^es. 

IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

On July 3d, 1876, Governor Connor, of Maine, ap- 
pointed James G. Blaine, United States Senator to 
succeed the Hon. Lot M. Morrill, who had just re- 
signed to accept the post of Secretar}' of the Treasury, 
in place of Mr. Bristow, who had just retired from 
that post. At the next session of the Maine Legisla- 
ture, Mr. Blaine was elected to his seat in the United 
States Senate. 

The Presidential election of 1876 being disputed, 
and the country being threatened in consequence with 
civil war, Congress upon its meeting in December 
agreed upon a plan to settle the dispute. The plan 
proposed was adopted by a committee of both houses 
in the shape of a bill providing for an Electoral Com- 
mission to consist of five Senators, five Representa- 
tives, and five Supreme Court Judges. The bill was 
reported, warmly discussed in both Houses, and 
passed in Januar^^ 1877, and the Commission decided 
in favor of Hayes and Wheeler, the Republican can- 



66 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



didates. Mr. Blaine spoke against the bill, as follows : 
Mr. President : I have, I trust, as profound an 
appreciation as any Senator on this floor of the gravity 
of the situation. I would not, if I could, underrate it, 
and no public good can result from overstating it. I 
have felt anxious from the first da}^ of the session to 
join in any wise measure that would tend to alla}^ 
public uneasiness and to restore, or at least maintain, 
public confidence. In this spirit I followed the lead 
of the honorable chairman of the Judiciary Commit- 
tee (Mr. Edmunds), in December, in an effort to secure 
a Constitutional Amendment, which would empower 
the Supreme Court of the United States to peacefully 
and promptly settle all the troubles gi^owing out of 
the disputed Electoral votes. I knew there were 
weighty objections to an}^ measure connecting the 
Judiciary with the political affairs of the country ; 
but I nevertheless thought, and I still think that, 
under the impressive sanction of a Constitutional 
Amendment, the angry difficulties growing out of a 
Presidential contest might with safety and satisfaction 
be adjusted by that supreme tribunal which, combin- 
ing dignity, honor, learning and presumed imparti- 
ality, would be regarded bj men of all parties as a 
trustworthy repository-. 

It was in that spirit and with these views that I 
voted for the Constitutional Amendment, which I re- 
gret to say failed to commend itself to the Senate. It 
was defeated, and I refer to it now onl}^ to show that 
I have not been reluctant to make any proper and 
Constitutional adjustment of pending difficulties. I 
am not wedded to any particular plan except that of 
the Constitution, nor have I any pet theories outside 
of the Constitution, and, unlike a good many gentle- 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



men on both sides of the chamber with whom I am 
newty associated here, I have no embarrassing record 
on this question of counting the votes." 

But, Mr. President, looking at the measure under 
consideration and looking at it with ever}' desire to 
co-operate with those who are so warmly advocating 
it, I am compelled to withhold the support of m}^ 
vote. I am not prepared to vest any body of men 
with the tremendous power which this bill gives to 
fourteen gentlemen, four of whom are to complete their 
number b}' selecting a fifteenth, and selecting a fif- 
teenth under such circumstances as throughout the 
length and breadth of the land impart a peculiar in- 
terest, I mio-ht sav an absorbinor interest to what Mr. 
Benton termed in the Texas indemnity bill. that coy 
and bashful blank." I do not believe that Congress 
itself has the power which it proposes to confer on 
these fifteen gentlemen. I do not profess to be what 
is termed, in the current phrase of the da}^, a Con- 
stitutional lawj^er," but every Senator voting under 
the obligations of his oath and liis conscience must 
ultimateh' be his own Constitutional lawyer. And I 
deliberatel}^ say that I do not believe that Congress 
possesses the power itself, and still less the power to 
transfer to any body of fourteen, or fifteen, or fifty 
gentlemen, that with which it is now proposed to in- 
vest five Senators, five Representatives and five Judges 
of the Supreme Court. I did not at this late hour of 
the night rise to make an argument, but merely to 
state the ground, the Constitutional and conscientious 
ground, on which I feel compelled to vote against the 
i pending bill. I have had a great desire to co-operate 
j with m3^ political friends who are advocating it, but 

►1 every possible inclination of that kind has been re- 

1 



68 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



moved and dispelled by the veiy arguments brought 
in support of the bill, able and exhaustive as they 
have been on that side of the question. 

I beg to make one additional remark through you, 
Mr. President, to the Chairman of the Judiciary Com- 
mittee, that while this subject is now in the public 
mind as it never has been before from the foundation 
of the Government, when the leading jurists of the 
country have been investigating it as never before, 
that they will not allow this session of Congress to 
close without carefully maturing and submitting to the 
States a Constitutional Amendment which will remove 
so far as possible all embarrassment in the future. 
The people of this country, without regard to party, 
desire in our Government due and orderly procedure 
under the sanction of law, and that I am sure is what 
is desired by ever}" Senator on this floor and by none 
more ardentl}^ than by m^^self. Let us then, if jDossi- 
able, guard against all trouble in the future by some 
wise and timel}^ measure that will be just to all parties 
and all sections, and, above all, just to our obligations 
under the Constitution. 

Senator Blaine opposed President Hayes' Southern 
policy, and took a decided stand against the President's 
action in recognizing the Democratic State Govern- 
ments in South Carolina and Louisiana in the Spring 

of isn. 

When the Senate considered the bill authorizing 
the free coinage of the standard silver dollar and to 
restore its legal-tender character, Mr. Blaine olfered 
a substitute for the bill, containing three propositions, 
as he states in these words : 

1. That the dollar shall contain four hundred and 



I; 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



69 



twenty -five grains of standard silver, shall have un- 
limited coinage, and be an unlimited legal tender. 

2. That all profits of coinage shall go to the 
Government, and not to the operator in silver 
bullion. 

3. That silver dollars or silver bullion, assa^^ed and 
mint-stamped, may be deposited with the Assistant 
Treasurer of Xew York, for .which coin-certificates 
may be issued, the same in denomination as United 
States notes, not below ten dollars, and that these 
shall be redeemable on demand in coin or bullion, 
thus furnishing a paper circulation based on an 
actual deposit of precious metal, giving us notes as 
valuable as those of the Bank of England, and doing 
away at once with the dreaded inconvenience of silver 
on account of bulk and weight. 

Mr. Blaine presented his views on the Silver Ques- 
tion, in a rather lengthy and veiy able speech, on the 
da}^ he ofl'ered his substitute, which was February Y, 
18t8. 

The concluding portion of his speech reads thus : 
The efi'ect of i^aying the labor of this country in 
silver coin of full value, as compared with the irre- 
deemable paper, or as compared even with silver of in- 
ferior value, wuU make itself felt in a single generation 
to the extent of tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of 
millions, in the aggregate savings which represent 
consolidated capital. It is the instinct of man from 
the savage to the scholar — developed in childhood 
and remainino^-with ao:e — to value the metals which 
in all tongues are called precious. Excessive j^aper 
money leads to extravagance, to waste, and to want, 
as we painfully witness on all sides to-day. And in 
6 



TO 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



the midst of the proof of its demoralizing and de- 
structive effect, we hear it proclaimed in the Halls of 
Congress that " the people demand cheaj) money." I 
deny it. I declare such a phrase to be a total mis- 
apprehension — a total misinterpretation of the popu- 
lar wish. The people do not demand cheap money. 
The}^ demand an abundance of good money, which is 
an entirely different thii;g. They do not want a single 
gold standard, that will exclude silver and benefit 
those already rich. They do not want an inferior 
silver standard, that will drive out gold and not help 
those alread}^ poor. They want both metals, in full 
value, in equal honor, in whatever abundance the 
bountiful earth will yield them to the searching eye 
of science and to the hard hand of labor. 

The two metals have existed, side by side, in har- 
monious, honorable companionship as money, ever 
since intelligent trade was known among men. It is 
well nigh forty centuries since Abraham weighed 
to Ephron four hundred shekels of silver — current 
money with the merchant." Since that time nations 
have risen and fallen, races have disappeared, dialects 
and languages have been forgotten, arts have been 
lost, treasures have perished, continents have been 
discovered, islands have been sunk in the sea, and 
through all these ages and through all these changes 
silver and gold have reigned supreme, as the repre- 
sentatives of value, as the media of exchange. The 
dethronement of each has been attempted in turn, 
and sometimes the dethronement of both ; but alwa3^s 
in vain! And we are here to-day, deliberating anew 
over the problem which comes down to us from Abra- 
ham's time — the weight of the silver^ that shall be 
cui rent money witli tlie merchant." 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



71 



[As Mr. Blaine resumed his seat there was pro- 
tracted applause in portions of the galleries.] 

The following is an extract from Senator Blaine's 
Speech on the Currency, at Biddeford, Maine, de- 
livered August 21st, 18T8 : 

By common consent the currency question is the 
great question before the people. This I regret ; 
because, if there is one thing people cannot afford, it 
is a political currency question. Let us settle it, 
and settle it right. Let us review the circumstances 
that brought us where we are now. In 1861 an extra 
session of Congress was called, and it authorized the 
Treasurer to borrow $400,000,000, as there was no 
money in the Treasur3\ Fift}^ millions of demand 
notes were also authorized, and when Congress as- 
sembled after the Christmas holida3^s the}' assembled 
with an empt}^ Treasury. In this particular strait 
the Government provided for an issuance of §150,- 
000,000 of legal-tender notes. That was a measure 
of absolute necessity. It was useless to stand upon 
a very fine drawn point at such a time. It was a 
question of life. We declared the notes legal tender. 
Before another 3^ear had expired we were called upon 
to issue another $150,000,000, and when Congress 
assembled in December, 1863, the report of the 
Secretary of the Treasury brought before us a xery 
embarrassing condition. The Government was with- 
out currency again. We were at that time appealing 
to ever}^ civilized nation of the world for money. 
Fort}^ or fifty million dollars were due the army, and 
ready cash was demanded. Out of this state of 
affairs came the Loan Act, which really supplied 
funds which were necessary for the salvation of the 



12 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



Nation. The Loan Act had not only authority of 
law, but in a peculiar and strong sense it is binding 
upon us. In this act was a proviso as follows : That 
the total amount of those notes issued, and to be is- 
sued, shall never exceed $400,000,000." It was the 
price which in extreme urgency we pledged ourselves 
to, and if there is au}^ honor in the American people 
they would as soon sign away their birthright as 
violate this pledge. The most fearful thing that 
could happen to this country would be the issuance 
of an unlimited amount of currencj^ How are 3^ou 
going to contract the currenc}^ ? You want Republi- 
can money or Democratic monc}^, do 3^ou not? 

Whatever else the American people do with currency, 
let me say to you that there is no body of men so little 
competent to determine the question of mone}" as 
Congressmen. I voted in Congress for the Green- 
back bill. I voted that greenbacks should not be 
contracted. 

Greenback people say that we should not have an^^ 
banks. For seven hundred years we have had banks, 
and we could not conduct the business of the country 
for a minute without banks. Wh}^ are banks a neces- 
sity ? A bank is a place where the borrower of monej" 
meets the lender ; where surplus money is dex30sited 
Suppose a man wants to borrow $10,000 to go into 
business. Greenbackers would send him all over the 
coiintr}" borrowing $50 here and $50 there. There are 
at the present time three bills in Congress for resur- 
recting" the State Banks. New-England enjo3^ed, 
under the old system, the best banks in the country, 
but they owed their reputation to the personal integ- 
rity of the men who stood behind the counter. The 
speaker aptly illustrated the weakness of the system 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



73 



by referring to the Lumberman's Bank, which might 
be said to have been owned b}^ the present Greenback 
candidate for Governor. This bank had a capital of 
$50,000, but at one time had on hand unsigned bills 
to the amount of $165,000, which would be signed as 
fast as anybody wanted them. In fact, the old sys- 
tem of banking was based upon the ^^ei'sonal notes 
of the stockholders. If 3"ou will have banks, then 
what kind will 3^ou have : responsible or irresponsi- 
ble? National banks are perfectly free for ever}^ man 
to engage in with just one little condition that the 
Government insists upon — that 3^ou shall not issue 
any bills until 3^ou have put into the United States 
Treasuiy an account equal to ten per cent, additional 
to protect the bill-holders. 

If you hold a IS'ational bank bill, 3^ou don't care 
whether the bank is burst or not. In regard to tax- 
ing bonds, Greenbackers sa3^ ''here is an exempted 
class." The onh'' man in the United States who pa3^s 
absolutel3"' full tax on his property is the holder of 
Government bonds; for instance: A invests $10,000 
in Government 4 per cents ; B invests an equal amount 
in Maine State 6s, and C invests a like amount in 
Maine Central T per cents. In the first case the in- 
vestor in Government bonds pa3^s his taxes in advance, 
but in the case of the other bonds, is it within 3^our 
experience that holders thereof flock to the assessor's 
office asking to be taxed ? Facts show that but a verv 
small portion of the bonds are taxed. It is the 
easiest thing in the world for 3^our brother in Cali- 
fornia to own them, or your uncle in some other part 
of the countiy. Then why delude yourselves with 
the idea that if 3^ou tax Government bonds they 
would be any more likel}^ to turn up for taxation 



14: 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



than these State or railroad bonds? If yon succeed 
in taxing bonds you mereh^ place upon your shoulders 
an additional burden of $-40,000,000. Government 
bonds never could nor never should be taxed. There 
are five kinds of money that the United States stands 
sponsor for : gold and silver — and gold is better than 
silver. Moses, in the second chapter of Genesis, tells 
us that gold is good;" and it makes no diflerence 
whether it is stamped by the United States or Vene- 
zuela. Then there is the old-fashioned, war-honored 
patriotic greenback, that did such great work, that 
says the United States will pay SIO. or as it may be. 
reserving to the United States when they would pay. 
In 18t5 it did say when they would pay. viz. : Janu- 
ar}^ 1, 1879. The advance school of Greenbackers, 
represented by General Butler, don't want this kind 
of greenback at all. They want another kind. They 
don't want anything stamped with "promise to pay.** 
The}^ want this greenback to sa}'. "this is SIO.** or 
any sum. Such talk is merely nonsense. TVhy not 
say, "this is horse.** why not make it SI. 000? It takes 
no more paper or time to print it, but it is not so with 
gold. The next government money is Xational Bank 
bills, and lastl}" the silver certificates. 

We fancied during the Greenback craze that we 
were all getting rich. In 1873 we found out we had 
lieen buying $800,000,000 more than we were selling. 
There is nothing so mysterious about National fi- 
nances. The same principles are involved in private 
finances. If a farmer is buying more than he is sell- 
ing from his farm, he is growing poorer, but if he is 
selling more than he is buying, he is getting richer. 
This idea holds good with the trade of the country. 
Now things arc changed. We are buying less abroad 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



75 



and have a balance in our fayor of §630,000,000. No 
people in the world are so able to maintain a specie 
basis as the United States, if they say they will. We 
are just in sight of the da}^ of redemption. We can look 
right into the promised land, but Greenbackers say, 
"Don't go in. Come, now, and wander with us for 
years more." You depreciate your currency, and 3^ou 
might as well by one shock of mighty power paralyze 
capital from one end of the countrj^ to the other. You 
reduce the country from that of a great commercial 
people to a beggarh^ small retail affair. The things 
which this day frighten men are wild schemes of fi- 
nance. What the United States needs in this matter 
is a large amount of " let-alone-ativeness." You can- 
not keep this currency as a political foot-ball. You 
cannot settle this question until 3^ou settle it right. 

The following is Senator Blaine's speech in the U. 
S. Senate, December 11, 18t8 : 

Mr. President : The pending resolution was ofiered 
by me with a two-fold purpose in view. First, to 
place on record in a definited and authentic form, the 
frauds and outrages by which some recent elections 
were carried by the Democratic Party in the South- 
ern States ; second, to find if there be any method by 
which a repetition of these crimes against a free bal- 
lot may be prevented. 

The newspaper is the channel through which the 
people of the United States are informed of current 
events, and the accounts given in the press represent 
the elections in some of the Southern States to have 
been accompanied by violence, in not a few cases 
reaching the destruction of life ; to have been con- 
trolled by threats that awed and intimidated a large 



t6 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



class of voters ; to have been manipulated by fraud 
of the most shameless and shameful description. In- 
deed, in South Carolina there seems to have been no 
election at all in any proper sense of the term. There 
was, instead, a series of skirmishes over the State, in 
which the x)olling-places were regarded as forts to be 
captured b}^ one party and held against the other, 
and where this could not be done with convenience, 
frauds in the count and tissue-ballot devices were re- 
sorted to in order to effectually destroy the voice of 
the majority. These, in brief, are the accounts given 
in the non-partisan press of the disgraceful outrages 
that attended the recent elections, and so far as I 
have seen, these statements are without serious con- 
tradiction. It is but just and fair to all parties, how- 
ever, that an impartial investigation of the facts 
shall be made by a committee of the Senate, pi^oceed- 
ing under the authorit}^ of law, and representing the 
power of the nation. Hence my resolution. 

But we do not need investigation to establish cer- 
tain facts alread}^ of official record. We know that 
one hundred and six Representatives in Congress 
were recently chosen in the States formerly slave- 
holding, and that the Democrats elected one hundred 
and one, or possibly one hundred and two, and the 
Republicans four, or possibly five. We know that 
thirty-five of these Representatives were assigned to 
the Southern States by reason of the colored popula- 
tion, and that the entire political power thus founded 
on the numbers of the colored people has been seized 
and appropriated to the aggrandizement of its own 
strength l)y the Democratic part}^ of the South. 

The issue thus raised before the country, Mr. Presi- 
dent, is not one of mere sentiment for the rights of 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

the negro — though far distant be the day when the 
rights of any American citizen, however black or 
however poor, shall form the mere dust of the bal- 
ance in any controvers}^ ; nor is the issue one that in- 
volves the waving of the blood}^ shirt," to quote 
the elegant vernacular of Democratic vituperation ; 
nor still further is the issue as now presented only a 
question of the equality of the black voter of the 
South with the white voter of the South ; the issue, 
Mr. President, has taken a far wider range, one of 
portentous magnitude, and that is, whether the white 
voter of the jSTorth shall be equal to the white voter 
of the South in shaping the policy and fixing the 
destiny of this country ; or whether, to put it still 
more baldly, the white .man who fought in the ranks 
of the Union Army shall have as weight}' and influ- 
ential a' vote in the Government of the Republic as 
the white man who fought in the ranks of the rebel 
arm3^ The one fought to uphold, the other to de- 
stroy, the Union of the States, and to-da}^ he who 
fought to destroy is a far more important factor in 
the government of the nation than he who fought to 
uphold it. 

Let me illustrate my meaning by comparing groups 
of States of the same representative strength North 
and South. Take the States of South Carolina, Mis- 
sissippi and Louisiana. The}" send seventeen Repre- 
sentatives to Congress. Their aggregate population 
is composed of 1,035,000 whites, and 1,224,000 col- 
ored; the colored being nearly 200,000 in excess of 
the whites. Of the seventeen Representatives, then, 
it is evident that nine were apportioned to these 
States by reason of their colored population, and only 
eight by reason of their white population ; and yet, 



IS 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



in the choice of the entire scA cnteen Representatives, 
the colored voters liad no more voice or power than 
their remote kindred on the shores of Senegambia or 
on the Gold Coast. The 1,035,000 white people had 
the sole and absolute choice of the entire seventeen 
Representatives. In contrast, take two States in the 
jN'orth, Iowa and Wisconsin, with seventeen Repre- 
sentatives. They have a white population of 2,247,- 
000 — considerably more than double the entire white 
population of the three Southern States I have named. 
In Iowa and Wisconsin, therefore, it takes 132,000 
white population to send a Representative to Con- 
gress, but in South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louis- 
iana every 60,000 white people send a Representative. 
In other words, 60,000 white people in those Southern 
States have precisely the same political power in the 
government of the country that 132,000 white people 
have in Iowa and Wisconsin. 

Take another group of seventeen Representatives 
from the South and from the North. Georgia and 
Alabama have a white population of 1,158,000 and a 
colored population of 1,020,000. They send seventeen 
Representatives to Congress, of whom nine were ap- 
portioned on account of the white population, and 
eight on account of the colored population. But the 
colored voters are not able to choose a single Repre- 
sentative, the white Democrats choosing the whole 
seventeen. The four Northern States, Michigan, 
Minnesota, Nebraska and California, have seventeen 
Representatives, based on a white poi:)ulation of 2,250,- 
000, or almost double the white population of Georgia 
and Alabama, so that in these relative groups of States 
we find the white man South exercises by his vote 
double the political power of the white man North. 

I 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



Id 



Let us cany the comparison to a more comprehen- 
sive generalization. The eleven States that formed 
the Confederate Government had b}^ the last censns 
a population of 9,500,000, of vrhich in round numbers 
5,500,000 were white and 4,000,000 colored. On this 
aggregate population seventy-three Representatives 
in Congress were apportioned to those States — forty- 
two or forty-three of which were by reason of the 
white population, and thirty or thirt^^-one by reason 
of the colored population. At the recent election 
the white Democracy of the South seized sevent}^ of 
the seventy-three districts, and thus secured a Demo- 
cratic majorit}^ in the next House of Representatives. 
Thus it appears that throughout the States that formed 
the late Confederate Government 75,000 whites — the 
ver}" people that rebelled against the Union — are en- 
abled to elect a Representative in Congress, while in 
the loyal States it requires 132,000 of the white people 
that fought for the Union to elect a Representative. 
In lev^dng every tax, therefore, in making every 
appropriation of money, in fixing every line of public 
polic}", in decreeing what shall be the fate and for- 
tune of the Republic, the Confederate soldier South 
is enabled to cast a vote that is twice as powerful 
and twice as influential as the vote of the Union sol- 
dier North. 

But the white men of the South did not acquire, 
and do not hold this superior power by reason of law 
or justice, but in disregard and defiance of both. 
The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution was 
expected to be, and was designed to be, a preventive 
and corrective of all such possible abuses. The read- 
ing of the clause applicable to the case is instructive 
and suggestive. Hear it : 



80 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



Representatives shall be apportioned among tlie 
several States according to their respective numbers, 
counting the whole number of persons in each State, 
excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to 
vote at an}' election for the choice of Electors for 
President and Yice-President of the United States, 
Representatives in Congress, the executive and judi- 
cial officers of a State, or the members of the Legis- 
lature thereof, is denied to an}^ of the male inhabi- 
tants of such State, being twenty-one 3"ears of age, 
and citizens of the United States, or in any 
abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or 
other crime, the basis of representation therein shall 
be reduced in the i^roportion which the number of 
such male citizens shall bear to the whole number , of 
male citizens twent3^-one 3'ears of age in such State. 

The patent, undeniable intent of this provision was 
that if any class of voters were denied or in any way 
abridged in their right of suffrage, then the class so 
denied or abridged should not be counted in the basis 
of representation; or, in other words, that no State 
or States should gain a large increase of representa- 
tion in Congress b}^ reason of counting any class of 
population not permitted to take part in electing such 
Representatives. But the construction given to this 
provision is that before any forfeiture of representation 
can be enforced, the denial or abridgment of suffrage 
must be the result of a law specifically enacted by the 
State. Under this construction every negro voter 
ma}^ have his suffrage absolutely denied or fatall}" 
abridged by the violence, actual or threatened, of irre- 
sponsible mobs, or by frauds and deceptions of State 
officers, from the Governor down to the last election 
clerk ; and then, unless some State law can be shown 
that authorizes the denial or abridgment, the State 
escapes all penalty or peril of reduced representation. 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



81 



This construction may be upheld by the courts ruling 
on the letter of the law, which killeth," but the 
spirit of justice cries aloud against the evasive and 
atrocious conclusion that deals out oppression to the 
innocent and shields the guilty from the legitimate 
consequences of willful transgression. 

The colored citizen is thus most unhappil}^ situated ; 
his right of suffrage is but a hollow mocker}^ ; it holds 
to his ear the word of promise but breaks it always 
to his hope, and he ends only in being made the un- 
willing instrument of increasing the political strength 
of that party from which he received ever-tightening 
fetters when he was a slave and contemptuous refusal 
of civil rights since he was made free. He resem- 
bles, indeed, those unhappy captives in the East, who, 
deprived of their birthright, are compelled to yield 
their strength to the upbuilding of the monarch from 
whose tyrannies they have most to fear, and to fight 
against the power from which alone deliverance might 
be expected. The franchise intended for the shielj 
and defense of the negro has been turned against him 
and against his friends, and has vastly increased the 
power of those from whom he has nothing to hope 
and everything to dread. 

The political power thus appropriated by Southern 
Democrats by reason of the negro population amounts 
to thirty-five Representatives in Congress. It is 
massed almost solidly, and offsets the great State of 
New York; or Pennsylvania and New Jersey to- 
gether ; or the whole of New England ; or Ohio and 
Indiana united; or the combined strength of Illinois, 
Minnesota, Kansas, California, Nevada, Nebraska, 
Colorado and Oregon. The seizure of this power is 
wanton usurpation ; it is flagrant outrage ; it is vio- 



82 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



lent perversion of the whole theor}^ of republican 
government. It inures solely to the present advan- 
tage, and yet, I believe, to the permanent dishonor of 
the Democratic party. It is by reason of this tramp- 
ling down of human rights, this ruthless seizure of 
unlawful power, that the Democratic party holds the 
popular branch of Congress to-day, and will in less 
than ninety days have control of this body also, thus 
grasping the entire legislative department of the Gov- 
ernment through the unlawful capture of the Southern 
States. If the proscribed vote of the South were 
cast as its lawful owners desire, the Democratic party 
could not gain power. Nay, if it were not counted 
on the other side against the instincts and the inter- 
ests, against the principles and prejudices of its law- 
ful owners. Democratic success would be hopeless. 
It is not enough, then, for modern Democratic tactics 
that the negro vote shall be silenced; the demand 
goes further, and insists that it shall be counted on 
their side, that all the Representatives in Congress 
and all the Presidential Electors apportioned by rea- 
son of the negro vote shall be so cast and so gov- 
erned as to insure Democratic success — regardless of 
justice, in defiance of law. 

And this injustice is wholly unprovoked. I doubt 
if it be in the power of the most searching investiga- 
tion to show, that in any Southern State, during the 
period of Republican control, any legal voter was 
ever del )arred from the freest exercise of his suffrage. 
Even the revenges, which would have leaped into life 
with many wlio despised the negro, were buried out of 
sight with a magnanimity which the superior race" 
fail to follow and seem reluctant to recognize. I 
know it is said in retort of such charges against the 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



83 



Southern elections, as I am now reviewing, that un- 
fairness of equal gravity prevails in Northern elec- 
tions. I hear it in many quarters and read it in the 
papers that in the late exciting election in Massachu- 
setts intimidation and bull-dozing, if not so rough and 
rancorous as in the South, were yet as wide-spread 
and effective. 

I have read, and jet I refuse to believe, that the 
distinguished gentleman who made an energetic, but 
unsuccessful, canvass for the Grovernorship of that 
State, has indorsed and approved these charges, and 
I have accordingly made my resolution broad enough 
to include their thorough investigation. I ani not 
demanding fair elections in the South without demand- 
ing fair elections in the North also. But venturing to 
speak for the New England States, of whose laws and 
customs I know something, I dare assert that in the 
late election in Massachusetts, or an}^ of her neighbor- 
ing Commonwealths, it will be impossible to find even 
one case where a voter was driven from the polls, 
where a voter did not have the fullest, fairest, freest 
opportunit}^ to cast the ballot of his choice, and have 
it honestly and faithfully counted in the returns. 
Suffrage on this continent was first made universal in 
New England, and in the administration of their affairs 
her people have found no other appeal necessary than 
that which is addressed to their honesty of convic- 
tion and to their intelligent self-interest. If there be 
anything different to disclose, I pray 3^ou show it to 
us that we may amend our ways. 

But whenever a feeble protest is made against such 
I injustice, as I have described in the South, the re- 
I ponse we get comes to us in the form of a taunt, 
What are you going to do about it ?" and How do 



84 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



you projjose to help yourselves ?" This is the stereo- 
t^'ped answer of defiance which intrenched Wrong 
alwa3^s gives to inquiring Justice ; and those who 
imagine it to be conclusive do not know the temper 
of the American people. For, let me assure 3^ou, that 
against the complicated outrage upon the right of 
representation, lately triumphant in the South, there 
will be arrayed man}^ phases of public opinion in the 
North not often hitherto in harmon}^ Men who have 
cared little, and affected to care less, for the rights or 
the wrongs of the negro, suddenl}^ find that vast mone- 
tar}^ and commercial interests, great questions of re- 
venue adjustments of tariff, vast investments in man- 
ufactures, in railways, and in mines, are under the 
control of a Democratic Congress, whose majorit}^ was 
obtained by depriving the negro of his rights under 
a common Constitution and common laws. Men who 
have expressed disgust with the waving of blood}" 
shirts,'' and have been offended with talk about negro 
equality, are beginning to perceive that the pending 
question of to-day relates more pressingly to the 
eqiialit}^ of white men under this Government, and 
that however careless they may be al)out the rights 
or the wrongs of the negro, they are very jealous and 
tenacious about the rights of their own race, and 
the dignity of their own fire-sides and their own 
kindred. 

I know something of public opinion in the North. 
I know a great deal about the views, wishes and pur- 
poses of the Republican party of the Nation. Within 
that cut ire great organization there is not one man, 
wliose opinion is entitled to be quoted, that does not 
desire peace and harmony and friendship, and a 
patriotic and fraternal union between the North and 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



85 



the South. This wish is spontaneous, instinctive, 
universal throughout the Northern States; and yet, 
among men of character and sense, there is surely no 
need of attempting to deceive ourselves as to the 
precise truth. First pure, then peaceable. Gush will 
not remove a grievance, and no disguise of State 
rights will close the eyes of our people to the neces- 
sity of correcting a great national wrong. Nor should 
the South make the fatal mistake of concluding that 
injustice to the negro is not also injustice to the white 
man; nor should it ever be forgotten that for the 
wrongs of both a remedy will assuredl}^ be found. 
The war, with all its costly sacrifices, was fought in 
vain, unless equal rights for all classes be established 
in all the States of the Union; and now, in words 
which are those of friendship, however differently 
they may be accepted, I tell the men of the South 
here on this floor and beyond this chamber, that even 
if they could strip the negro of his Constitutional 
rights they can never permanently maintain the ine- 
quality of white men in this Na.tion — they can never 
make a white man's vote in the South doubl}^ as pow- 
erful in the administration of the Government as a 
white man's vote in the North. 

In a memorable debate in the House of Commons, 
Mr. Macaulay reminded Daniel O'Connell, when he 
was moving for repeal, that the English Whigs had 
endured calumny, abuse, popular fury, loss of posi- 
tion, exclusion from Parliament, rather than the great 
Agitator himself should be less than a British sub- 
ject; and Mr. Macaulay warned him that they would 
never suffer him to be more. Let me now remind 
you, that the Government, under whose protecting 
flag we sit to-daj^, sacrificed myriads of lives and ex- 



86 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



tended thousands of millions of treasure that our 
countrj^men of the South should remain citizens of 
the United States, having equal personal rights and 
equal political privileges with all other citizens. And 
I venture, now and here, to warn the men of the 
South, in the exact words of Macaulay, that we will 
never suffer them to be more ! 

[Upon the conclusion of Mr. Blaine's speech there 
was considerable applause in the galleries, but it was 
soon checked by the Yice-President.] 

On the 22d of April, 18^8, Mr. Blaine offered the 
following resolutions : 

Resolved, That any radical change in our present 
Tariff laws would, in the judgment of the Senate, be 
inopportune, would needlessly derange the business 
interests of the countr}^, and would serioush^ retard 
that return to prosperity for which all should earn- 
estly^ co-operate. 

Resolved^ That, in the judgment of the Senate, it 
should be the fixed policy of this Government, to so 
maintain our Tariff for revenue as to afford adequate 
protection to American labor. 

On the 1st of May, 18t8, Mr. Blaine called up his 
resolutions and urged their passage. He objected to 
the appointment of a Tariff Commission, in regard to 
which he said : 

I think one of the most mischievous measures in 
its effects, not of course so designed by the gentle- 
man who may move it, would be to have a roving- 
Commission on the idea that, when they get through 
running hither and thither over the country^, and ex- 
amining this way and that way about the tariff, certain 
recommendations are to be made and certain changes 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



SI 



are to take place. Nothing would more effectually 
unsettle the business of the country than that. That 
is only having the agitation of the subject, which is 
now disturbing the country by its appearance in Con- 
gress, transferred to a Commission. You only elon- 
gate the evil, you only increase it,3^ouonly keep draw- 
ing it out over a If^ng time. There is no form, in my 
judgment, which the tariff discussion or tariff legis- 
lation could take that would be fraught with more 
mischief to the countr}^ than to have a Commission 
sitting upon it. After they had made their report, it 
could not effect legislation here or influence the opin- 
ion of any person in either branch of Congress one 
way or the other. We have had many of these com- 
missions upon divers and sundry subjects, and I have 
never known them to do a particle of good, so far as 
producing a result in practical legislation. 

After which Senator Beck of Kentucky launched 
out on a tirade against our Tariff laws, in response to 
which Mr. Blaine said : 

Mr. President : The honorable Senator from Ken- 
tucky (Mr. Beck) quite prematurely^, and without 
my expectation, launched forth into an argument on 
the subject of the Tariff; and very naturally, taking 
the side he does, he quarrels with the civilization of 
the nineteenth century. He says it is the machinery- 
that is to blame. We have got machinery- in this 
country, he say^s, that will do the work of one hun- 
dred and seventy-five million* men, and there is where 
all the trouble is. Of course the logical result of the 
Senator's argument is to abolish the locomotive, the 
steam engine and all modern appliances of transpor- 
toftion and manufacture, and go back to the hand- 
loom and the wagon. 



88 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



Mr. Beck. Oh, no; I beg pardon. 

Mr. Blaine. I did not interrnpt the Senator, and 
I hope he will allow me to get through my argument. 

Mr. Beck. Yon surelj^ will not say that I intended 
an}^ snch thing as that. 

Mr. Blaine. I do not see any other result. The 
Senator sayst he whole trouble gi^tws out of the fact, 
that we have labor-saving machinery. 

Mr. Beck. Allow me to put the Senator right 
there. My argument was that we need no protection 
because we have machineiy equal to an^^ other ma- 
chinery^, and that machinery can compete in the mar- 
kets of the world. I wish we had more. 

Mr. Blaine. The Senator said — he ma}^ correct 
his argument now — that we had the machinery here, 
which was the slave of the owners of it, that the}" 
could command it to stand still or to turn when they 
chose, that the laborer was their servant, and that he 
had no independence outside of the machinery. I do 
not understand am' logical result, or see how the 
Senator can free the laborer from the position he puts 
him in, but by abolishing the machinery, I do not 
understand it otherwise. And I think among the 
anomalies that American politics turn up— and we 
meet man}" of them in this Chamber — among the 
strange contradictions that histoiy develops, is that 
the seat of Henry Clay, in the Senate of the United 
States, should be the place from which a free-trade 
argument to overthrow the American System and 
take the side of the Free-Trader should be made. It 
is one of the anomalies of American politics ; and the 
argument of the Senator from Kentucky goes right 
back to what was said before the war by a distin- 
giiisbed Southern man, that he hoped to see the day 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



89 



when the old barter between the English ship that 
was anchored in the Savannah or the Potomac, or the 
Cooper or the Ashle}^, should be resumed with the 
planter who shipped directly to England ; and it is 
that spirit to-day which holds in manacles and para- 
h^zes the development of the Southern country. 

The Senator recalled to us the great Tariff of Rob't 
J. Walker, and cited to us the vast achievement of 
political philosophy and econom}^ that man presented 
to us in his three reports of 1845, 1846. and 1847. 
Well, the Tariff of Robert J. Walker had abundant 
opportunity to ^' run and be glorified" in this coun- 
tY}\ and it ran us into bankruptcy and want and ruin. 
It was modified in 1857. going still further in the 
same direction. The years 1857, 1858, 1859, and 
1860 were years of prostration and financial ruin, and 
wide-spread disaster and want, in which the laborer 
was not emplo^^ed. Those four years were much 
more severe in many portions of this countr}^ than 
even the four past years which we have just gone 
through. 

So, when the Senator presents to us the fact that 
Robert J. Walker established the Tariff of 1846, he 
presents it as a beacon of warning to ever}' man who 
remembers its eflect throuohout the lenoth and 
breadth of the manufacturing industries of this coun- 
try. 

There we see developed a little collison between 
our friends on the other side. When the Senator 
from Kentucky (Mr. Beck) was laying down the Simon 
Pure Democratic doctrine as it was announced at the 
last National sanhedrim of that part}^, the Senator 
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Wallace) put in an excep- 
tion, and the Senator from Pennsylvania said that it 



90 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



was fully understood that the Free-Trade side of the 
Tariff question was not to be a Democratic doctrine, 
but that all the Congressional districts were to be 
left to determine that matter for themselves. Ever}^- 
bod}^ knows that was a contrivance got up for the 
benefit of gentlemen placed exactly in the delicate 
attitude of the Senator from Pennsjdvania, who have 
Protective-Tariff constituents behind, allied with the 
Free-Trade party in the country at large, and the guise 
which was made and attempted for the benefit of Mr. 
Greele}^ in his campaign, was boldly thrown off at St. 
Louis when Mr. Tilden became the standard-bearer. 

The Senator from Kentucky warned us that the 
trouble is radical, and he called up the fact of an 
American ship being launched a few days since on 
the Delaware ; and he said joii m^y build that ship at 
the same rate that an English ship is, load her with 
goods manufactured in this country as cheapl}^ as in 
England, and send her to her port, and the trouble is 
she has nothing to bring back. I wish the Senator 
would give me his attention this moment. 

Mr. Beck. I am trying to. 

Mr. Blaine. The trouble is that we have nothing 
to bring back, the Senator sa3's. Well, he was sing- 
ularly unfortunate in his allusion, because of a total 
export annually from Brazil of less than $90,000,000, 
we take $40,000,000; of a total export from Brazil of 
$500,000,000 within the last six years we have taken 
well-nigh $250,000,000. The Senator says the trouble 
is that we may sail our ships wherever we please, but 
we can get no return cargo. I suppose the idea is 
that we had better take our coffee and dyewoods and 
other things of that sort from Brazil in British bot- 
toms. 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



91 



Mr. Beck. Will the Senator allow me to say, that 
I referred to vessels sailing to Yalparaiso and trad- 
ing with Chili? and every fact I stated is true, and 
I hold evidence in m}^ hand, compiled Mr. Wells 
in a little work that the Senator from Maine would do 
well to read, giving exactly the facts that I stated. 
As to Brazil, we have more trade with her because 
coffee has been made free latel}^ ; and that is the only 
reason we trade with Brazil. 

Mr. Blaine. We took scarceh^ less coffee when it 
was taxed. 

Mr. Beck. I never mentioned Brazil in my re- 
marks. 

Mr. Blaine. The Senator mentioned the Cit}^ of 
Para and the port to which she was destined to run. 
The City of Para was launched for a Brazilian line, 
and all the parade of Congress and the President 
that went over there was to inaugurate that line. Is 
not that the fact ? You ma}^ mention any other South 
American port, but 3'ou do not change the argument 
a particle. We tfike a great deal more from all these 
countries than we send to them, and 3^et the Senator 
says the trouble is we can get no return cargo. His 
argument does not stand at all. Mr. President, there 
is no more hurtful agitation to-da}' in this country' 
than the agitation of the Tariff. The Senator talks 
of a lobby being here. That is always the cry, when 
an^'thing comes up there is a lobby ! " Has the 
Senator seen a Tariff lobby here? 

Mr. Beck. I served upon the Committee of Ways 
and Means in the House under the distinguished Sen- 
ator from Massachusetts (Mr. Dawes), and our room 
was full of them, from the time we met until we ad- 
journed, demanding more protection. 



92 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



Mr. Blaine. When the gentleman was on the Com- 
mittee of Ways and Means the persons interested in 
the Tariff were coming there to give testimony ; they 
were coming to give jnst what 3^ou propose now to 
get a Commission to give. They were coming in there 
to give J on voluntarily what you propose to get a 
roving Commission rambling all over the country to 
inquire into. 

Mr. Beck. I am not a member of the present Com- 
mittee on Finance, and how far their rooms are filled 
I cannot tell, but I know that there are men here from 
all parts of the country resisting the reduction of the 
Tariff. 

Mr. Blaine. Very well. JSTow I ask the Senator 
from Kentucky another question. Does he know of, 
has he seen a petition presented in either House of 
Congress at the present session for a repeal or modi- 
fication of the present Tariff? 

Mr. Beck. I will answer the Senator that the great 
unorganized mass of the people have nobody to speak 
for them. . 

Mr. Blaine. Ah! 

Mr. Beck. It is only the classes that are interested | 
who come here. Did the Senator ever know of peti- ^ 
tions asking for a reduction of taxes ? I 

Mr. Blaine. What is to hinder the great unorgan- i 
ized mass of people out in Kentucky sending peti- I 
tions to their distinguished Senators to be presented | 
here ? ) 

Mr. Beck. Because they have to rely on their Re- \ 
presentatives on this floor and the other to speak for j 
them; but it is men who want something, special j 
protection, to tax all the people to give them more, j 
that are^always here asking for more. Of course the 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



93 



people who are interested are scattered all over the 
country, and can neither organize nor get together. 
They have no clubs, the}^ have no rings, they have no 
associations through which they can speak. 

Mr. Dawes. The Senator from Kentuck}^ has al- 
luded to his service upon the Committee of Ways 
and Means in the House of Representatives, and said 
that the room of the Committee of Wa^^s and Means 
was crowded with men demanding more protection. 
Does the Senator mean to say that there was one 
more man in the room of the Committee of Ways 
and Means demanding protection than there were men 
demanding that the Tariff should be reduced? Does 
not the Senator know that there were organizations 
represented before the committee, whose sole purpose 
it was to institute just such a tariff as the Tariff of 
1846? They had their organs here; they had their 
office in this cit}^ ; they had their bureau ; they had, 
their men employed on a salar}^ here who were in the 
room of the Committee of Wa^^s and Means, day in 
and day out, urging their consideration upon the Com- 
mittee; and the result of it all was that they were 
discomfited and routed in the argument, and they have 
been quiet from that day to this. 

Mr. Beck. I never heard of organizations of that 
sort. There may have been, and the Senator from 
Massachusetts may know of them. 

Mr. Daaves. If the Senator from Kentucky has 
forgotten the names of those who represented those 
organizations, I can give them to him. 

Mr. Beck. What organizations were they? 

Mr. Dawes. There was an organization represented 
by a man by the name of Grosvenor, from Missouri 
here, who had a bureau on Pennsylvania avenue, and 



94 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



who urged upon that Committee a system of tariff 
which would put the manufactured article below the 
raw material in the duty ; and when I suggested to 
him to make a tariff, and bring it to the committee - 
room, which would raise a revenue that would defra}^ 
the expenses of the Grovernment and pa}^ the interest 
on the national debt upon his principle, and I would 
submit it, he utterl}^ failed and confessed his inability 
to do it. The Committee of Ways and Means had to 
meet this question to raise revenue for the country and 
pay the interest on the public debt, and say whether 
the}^ would put the dut}^ for that purpose on the raw 
material or upon the manufactured article, and the 
Committee of Ways and Means came to the conclu- 
sion, after having heard all parties, that it was wiser to 
put it upon the manufactured article than upon the 
raw material; and the polic}^ of that Committee was 
to put the raw material, wherever it was produced, at 
the door of the shop of the manufacturer as cheapl}'' 
as it was possible to do it, taking off the dut}^ and 
reducing the transportation, putting it at the door of 
the manufacturer as cheapl}^ as possible, and put the 
duty upon tea and coffee and upon the manufactured 
articles to meet the exigencies of the countr}^ 

Mr. Blaine. But there was one very remarkable 
exception of raw material, and that was hemp, which 
was produced by the State of Kentucky. While they 
took good care to make almost all other raw mater- 
ials cheap, I think the honorable Senator from Ken- 
tucky wisely looked out for his own State, and got a 
very large duty put on hemp, jute, and all kindred 
grasses. 

Mr. Beck. I desire to say to the Senator from 
Maine and the Senator from Massachusetts, that they 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



95 



are unfortunate in their facts, because the}^ are not 
true. That is a sufficient answer to them, and the 
record will show it ; and I will show it here when I 
get an opportunit3\ 

Mr. Blaine. All I know on that point is that the 
Senator from Kentucky was a meml3er of the Com- 
mittee of Ways and Means, and that in the tariff bill 
reported there was a ver}^ large protection, which I 
believe still exists, on hemp. It was exceptionally 
large, as contrasted with the other raw materials 
needed for the manufactures of this countrj^, and I 
always gave credit to the Senator from Kentucky, who 
is a watchful and able and zealous representative of 
his constituents, for getting that protection put in. 
He took good care to have his own door-step swept 
very clean, but seems to have cared very little about 
what became of his neighbors. 

Mr. Beck. That is all ver^^ smart. I have answered 
that the facts are not so, and I will show it to-morrow 
when I get a chance. 

Mr. Blaine. If the Senator can show that there 
has not been, from the time he was a member of the 
Committee of Ways and Means, an exceptionalh^ 
heavy dut}' on hemp, then he can show that I am mis- 
taken, and I will very gracefully, or as gracefull}^ as I 
can, acknowledge it ; but I think the Senator from 
Kentuck}^ will not be quite able to show the fact. I 
do not wish to trench upon the time given to other 
measures before the Senate; but this matter I hope 
will come up when we can have a freer discussion. 

Here the debate closed. 

On the Bill making appropriations for Arrears of 
I Pensions, March 1, 18Y8, Senator Blaine spoke as fol- 
lows : 



96 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



Mr. President. The Senator from Ohio (Mr. Thur- 
man) indulged himself in a line of remark which I 
hardly think was justifiable. He was arraigning this 
entire side of the Chamber for running at the name 
of Jefferson Davis. I wish to sa}^ to the honorable 
Senator from Ohio, and to all the Senators on that 
side, that, neither in this Chamber nor in the other 
in which I have served, did I ever hear what he would 
call an attack made on Jefferson Davis, until he was 
borne into the Chamber for some favor to be asked 
and some vote to be exacted. Who brought him here 
to-night? Who has brought him into Congress at 
different times ? No Republican. No Republican Sen- 
ator or Representative has ever asked censure or com- 
ment, or reference to him; but you bring him here 
and ask us either to vote or keep silent ; and if we 
don't keep silent, then the honorable Senator is as- 
tonished and indignant, and the honorable Senator 
from Mississippi (Mr. Lamar) thinks that a wanton 
insult is intended. I want the country to understand 
that it is that side of the Chamber and not this side 
that brings Jefferson Davis to the front. 

Mr. Thurman. I wish to ask the Senator to explain 
what he means by bringing Jefferson Davis here? 
Does he mean introducing the 23roposition to pension 
soldiers who served in Mexico? 

Mr. Blaine. Yes, the measure you are agitating 
brings him here. 

Mr. Thurman. Then it is a crime? 

Mr. Blaine. Not a crime at all. I am not charg- 
ing the Senator with a crime, but I resent with some 
little feeling that the Senator should look over to this 
side of the Chamber and complain that we are taking 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 9Y 

some extra or dinaiy course with the name of Jeffer- 
son Davis. We do not bring him here. You bear 
his mangled remains before us, and then if we do not 
hapi^en to view them with the same admiration that 
seems to inspire the Senator from Ohio, we are doing- 
something derogatory to our own dignity and to the 
honor of the countr}^, and when the honorable Sena- 
tor from Mississippi comes to his defense, the first 
word he had to speak for Mr. Davis was that he never 
counseled insurrection against the Government. I 
took the words down. 

Mr. Oglesby. Since when ? 

Mr. Blaine. Since the close of the war. He. has 
never counseled insurrection ! Let us be thankful. 
Why should he not pension a man who has shown 
such loyalty that he has never counseled insurrec- 
tion ? That is from the Representative of his own 
State. I took the words down when he spoke them ; 
I was amazed ; I did not exactly consider the words 
of the honorable Senator from Mississippi a wanton 
insult to apply to me or anybody else, but I consider 
them to be most extraordinaiy words, that when 
pleading the cause of J eflferson Davis at the bar of the 
American Senate to be pensioned on its roll of honor, 
his personal representative, his associate, his friend, 
his follower, commends him to the American people, 
because he has been so loyal that he has never coun- 
seled insurrection since the war was over. 

This is the man brought in here who, according to 
the Senator from Mississippi, is to go down to his- 
tory the x)eer of Washington and Hampden, fighting 
in the same cause, entitled to the same niche in his- 
tory, inspired by the same patriotic motives, to be 
admired for the same self-consecration. 



98 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



Let me tell the honorable Senator from Mississippi, 
that in all the years that I have served in Congress I 
have never voluntarily brought the name of J efferson 
Davis before either branch, but I tell him that he is 
asking humanity to forget its instincts and patriot- 
ism to be changed to crime, before he will find im- 
partial history place Mr. Jefferson Davis anywhere 
in the roll that has for its brightest and greatest 
names, George Washington and John Hampden. 

After Mr. Lamar had replied to this speech, Mr. 
Blaine resumed as follows : Why, Mr. President, 
does the honorable Senator from Mississippi declare 
that the policy of the Government of the United 
States, administered as it has been through the Re- 
publican party, has been one of intolerance toward 
those who were prominent in the war — if I may use 
a euphemism, and leave out rebellion — which is offen- 
sive to his ears ? Do I understand the honorable 
Senator to maintain here on this floor that the Gov- 
ernment of the United States has been intolerant ? 
Certainly the Senator does not mean that. 

After a colloqu^^ with Mr. Lamar, Mr. Blaine re- 
sumed thus : 

The Government of the United States never dis- 
franchised or put under political disabilities more than 
fourteen thousand men in the entire South. Out 
of two millions who were in the war it never dis- 
franchised over fourteen thousand men. There are 
not two hundred left to-day with political disabilities 
upon them. There is not one that ever respectfully 
or any other way petitioned to be relieved and was 
refused. - I know very well what the honorable Sena- 
tor from Ohio meant, when he said that Hon. J efferson 
Davis should commend himself, because he was not 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



99 



an office-seeker and had not asked to be relieved of 
disabilities. Why, if the newspapers are to be cred- 
ited, especially those in the Southern Democratic in- 
terest, Mr. Davis is a candidate for office; he is 
pledged to sit on the other side of this Chamber two 
years hence, and the honorable Senator from Ohio 
will in the next Congress with his eloquence — I am 
predicting now — urge that these disabilities be re- 
moved from him. I predict further that he will urge 
it without Jefferson Davis paying the respect to the 
great Government against which he rebelled, simpl}^ 
asking in respectful language that disabilities be taken 
from him. He has never asked it ; I am very sure 
that another great leader in the South, Mr. Toombs, 
of Georgia, has boasted that he would never do it, 
and in the House of Representatives three ^^ears ago, 
when the general amnesty bill was pending and it was 
proposed that the amnesty should be granted merely 
on the condition that it should be asked for by each 
person desiring it, that it was resisted to the bitter 
end — this great Government was to go to them and 
ask them if they would take it. The action of the 
Democratic House of Representatives^! am speaking 
of the past now, which is quite within parliamentary 
limits — the action of the Democratic House of Rep- 
resentatives was not that Jefferson Davis might have 
his disabilities removed upon respectful petition, but 
that we should go to him and petition him to allow 
us to remove them. 

During the political campaign in the fall of 18t8, 
Mr. Blaine took an active part on the stump, speak- 
ing in favor of the financial policy and other public 
measures of the Republican party. 

When the bill to restrict Chinese emigration was 



100 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



under consideration in the spring of 18t9, Mr. Blaine 
took a decided stand in its favor. 

The following speech of Hon. James G. Blaine, of 
Maine, was delivered in the United States Senate, 
Monday, April 14, 18t9 : 

[The Senate having under consideration the bill (H. 
R. No. 1), making appropriations for the support of 
the Army for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880, 
and for other purposes.] 

Mr. President : The existing section of the Re- 
vised Statutes numbered 2002 reads thus : 

No military or naval officer, or other person en- 
gaged in the civil, military, or naval service of the 
United States, shall order, bring, keep or have under 
his authority or control, any troops or armed men at 
the place where any general or special election is held 
in any State unless it be necessar}^ to repel the armed I 
enemies of the United States, or to keep the peace at 
the polls. 

The object of the proposed section, which has just 
been read at the Clerk's desk, is to get rid of the 
eight closing words, namely, or to keep the peace 
at the polls," and therefore the mode of legislation . 
proposed in the Army Bill now before the Senate is i 
an unusual mode ; it is an extraordinary mode. If 
3^ou want to take off a single sentence at the end of a 
section in the Revised Statutes the ordinary way is to | 
strike off those words, but the mode chosen in this I 
bill is to repeat and re-enact the whole section leav- | 
ing those few words out. While I do not wish to be 
needlessly suspicious on a small point, I am quite 
persuaded that this did not happen by accident, but 
that it came by design. If I may so speak it came 
of cunning, the intent l)eing to create tlie impression 



i 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



101 



that, whereas the Republicans in the administration of 
the General Government had been using troops right 
and left, hither and thither, in every direction, as 
soon as the Democrats got power they enacted this 
section. I can imagine Democratic candidates for 
Congress all over the countr}^ reading this section to 
gaping and listening audiences as one of the first 
offsprings of Democratic reform, whereas every word 
of it, every sjdlable of it, from its first to its last, 
is the enactment of a Republican Congress. 

I repeat that this unusual form presents a dishonest 
issue, whether so intended or not. It presents the 
issue that as soon as the Democrats got possession of 
the Federal Government they proceeded to enact the 
clause which is thus expressed. The law was passed 
by a Republican Congress in 1865. There were forty- 
six Senators sitting in this Chamber at the time, of 
whom onl}^ ten or at most eleven were Democrats. 
The House of Representatives was overwhelmingly^ 
Republican. We were in the midst of a war. The 
Republican Administration had a million, or possibly 
twelve hundred thousand, bayonets at its command. 
Thus circumstanced and thus surrounded, with the 
amplest possible power to interfere with elections had 
they so designed, with soldiers in every hamlet and 
county of the United States, the Republican party 
themselves placed that provision on the statute-book, 
and Abraham Lincoln, their President, signed it. 

I beg you to observe, Mr. President, that this is the 
first instance in the legislation of the United States, 

, in which any restrictive clause whatever was put upon 
the statute-book in regard to the use of troops at the 
polls. The Republican party did it with the Senate 

jl and the House in their control. Abraham Lincohi 

1 "8 

ll 



102 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



signed it when he was Commander-in-Chief of an 
arm}^ larger tlian ever Napoleon Bonaparte had at his 
command. So much by wa}^ of correcting an ingeni- 
ous and studied attempt at misrepresentation. 

The alleged object is to strike out the few words 
that authorize the use of troops to keep peace at the 
polls. This countr}^ has been alarmed, I rather think 
indeed amused, at the great effort made to create a 
wide-spread impression that the Republican party 
relies for its popular strength upon the use of the 
bayonet. This Democratic Congress has attempted 
to give a bad name to this country throughout the 
civilized world, and to give it on a false issue. The}^ 
have raised an issue that has no foundation in fact 
— that is false in whole and detail, false in the charge, 
false in all the specifications. That impression sought 
to be created, as I say, not only throughout the North 
American continent, but in Europe to-da}^, is that 
elections are attempted in this country to be con- 
trolled by the bayonet. 

I denounce it here as a false issue. I am not at , 
libert}^ to say that an}^ gentleman making the issue 
knows it to be false; I hope he does not; but I am 
going to prove to him that it is false, and that there 
is not a solitary inch of solid earth on which to rest 
the foot of any man that makes that issue. I have in i 
my hand an official transcript of the location and the | 
number of all the troops of the United States east of f 
Omaha. By "east of Omaha," I mean all the United | 
States east of the Mississippi river and that belt of ^ 
States that border the Mississippi River on the west, | 
including forty-one million at least out of the forty- | 
five million of peo])le that this countr}^ is sui)[)osed ■ 
t^) coiitnin to-da3^ In that magnificent area — I will 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



108 



not pretend to state its extent — but T^ith fort3^-one 
million people, how many troops of the United States 
are there to-da}^? Wonld rhj Senator on the oppo- 
site side like to gness, or wonld he like to state how 
man}^ men with mnskets in their hands there are in 
the vast area I have named ? There are two thousand 
seven hundred and ninety-seven ! And not one more. 

From the headwaters of the Mississippi River to 
the Lakes, and down the great chain of Lakes, and 
down the Saint Lawrence, and down the valle}^ of the 
Saint John, and down the Saint Croix, striking the 
Atlantic Ocean and following it down to Ke}' West, 
around the Grulf, up to the month of the Mississippi 
again, a frontier of eight thousand miles, either bor- 
dering on the ocean or upon foreign territory, is 
guarded b}^ these troops. Within this domain forty- 
live fortifications are manned and eleven arsenals pro- 
tected. There are sixty troops to everj^ million of 
people. In the South I have the entire number in 
each State and will give it. 

I believe the Senator from Delaware is alarmed, 
greatly alarmed about the over-riding of the popular 
ballot b}^ troops of the L'^nited States ! In Delaware 
there is not a single armed man, not one. The L'nited 
States has not even one soldier in the State. 

The honorable Senator from West Tirginia (Mr. 
Hereford), on Friday last, lashed himself into a pas- 
sion, or at least into a perspiration, over the wrongs 
of his State, trodden down by the iron heel of mili- 
tary despotism. There is not a solitary man of the 
United States, uniformed, on the soil of West Virginia, 
and there has not been for }' ears. 

In Maryland ? I do not know whether m^' esteemed 
friend from Maryland (Mr. Whyte) has been greatly 



104 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



alarmed or not; but at Fort McHenr}^, guarding the 
entrance to the beautiful harbor of his beautiful city, 
there are one hundred and ninetj^-two artillerj^men 
located. 

In Yirginia, there is a school of practice at Fortress 
Monroe. M}^ honorable friend (Mr. Withers), who 
has charge of this bill, knows very well, and if he 
does not I will tell him, that outside of that school of 
practice at Fortress Monroe, which has two hundred 
and eighty-two men in it, there is not a Federal sol- 
dier on the soil of Yirginia — not one. 

North Carolina. Are the Senators from that State 
alarmed at the immediate and terrible prospect of 
being over-run b}^ the Arni}^ of the United States? 
On the whole soil of North Carolina there are but 
thirt}^ soldiers guafxling a fort at the mouth of Cape 
Fear River — -just thirty. 

South Carolina. I do not see a Senator on the floor 
from that State. There are one hundred and twent}^ 
artillerymen guarding the approaches to Charleston 
Harbor, and not another soldier on her soil. 

Georgia. Does my gallant friend from Greorgia 
(Mr. Gordon) who knows better than I the force and 
strength of militar}^ organization — the seuior Senator, 
and the junior also — are both or either of those Sena- 
tors alarmed at the presence of twent^Miine soldiers in 
Georgia? [Laughter] There are just twenty-nine there. 

Florida has one hundred and eighty-two at three 
separate posts, principall}^ guarding the nav}^ 3'^i'^l? 
near which my friend on the opposite side (Mr. Jones) 
lives. 

Tennessee. Is the honorable Senator from Ten- 
nessee (Mr. Bailey) alarmed at the progress of mili- 
tary despotism in liis State? There is not a single 



II 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



105 



Federal soldier on the soil of Tennessee — not 
one. 

Kentuck3\ I see both the honorable Senators 
from Kentucky here. The}^ have equal cause with 
Tennessee to be alarmed, for there is not a Federal 
soldier in Kentuck^^ — not one ! 

Missouri. Xot one. 

Arkansas. Fift3^-seYen in Arkansas. 

Alabama. I think m}^ friend from Alabama (Mr. 
Morgan) is greath^ excited over this question, and in 
his State there are thirty-two Federal soldiers located 
at an arsenal of the United States. 

Mississippi. The great State of Mississippi, that 
is in danger of being trodden under the iron hoof of 
militaiy power, has not a Federal soldier on its soil. 

Louisiana has two hundred and thirty-nine. 

Texas, apart from the regiments that guard the 
frontier on the Rio Grande and the Indian frontier, 
has not one. 

And the entire South has eleyen hundred and fift}'- 
fiye soldiers to intimidate, oyer-run, oppress, and 
destroy the liberties of fifteen million people ! In the 
Southern States there are twelye hundred and three 
counties. If you distribute the soldiers there is not 
quite one for each county ; and when I giye the coun- 
ties I giye them from the census of 18t0. If you dis- 
tribute them territorial!}^ there is one for eyery seyen 
hundred square miles of territoiy, so that if 3'ou 
make a territorial distribution, I would remind the 
honorable Senator from Delaware, if I saw him in his 
seat, that the quota for his State would be three — 
" one ragged sergeant and two abreast," as the old 
song has it. [Laughter.] That is the force ready to 
destroy the liberties of Delaware ! 



106 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



Mr. President, it was said, as the old maxim has 
it, that the soothsayers of Rome could not look each 
other ill the face without smiling. There are not two 
Democratic Senators on this floor who can go into 
the cloak-room and look each other in the face with- 
out smiling at this talk, or, more appropriate!}^, I 
should say without blushing — the whole thing is such 
a prodigious and absolute farce, such a miserabl}" 
manufactured false issue, such a pretense without the 
slightest foundation in the world, and talked about 
most and denounced the loudest in States that have 
not had a single Federal soldier. In New England 
we have three hundred and eighty soldiers. Through- 
out the South it does not run quite seventy to the 
million people. In New England we have absolutely 
one hundred and twent}^ soldiers to the million. 
New England is far more over-run to-day by the 
Federal soldier, immensely more, than the wliole 
South is. I never heard aindiody complain about it 
in New England, or express any veiy great fear of 
their liberties being endangered by the presence of 
a handful of troops. 

As I have said, the tendeiic}^ of this talk is to give 
us a bad name in Europe. Eepublicaii institutions 
are looked upon there with jealous}^ Eveiy misrep- 
resentation, every slander is taken up and exagger- 
ated and talked about to our discredit, and the 
Democratic party of the country to-da}^ stands in- 
dicted, and I here indict them, for public slander of 
tlieir country, creating the impression in the civilized 
world tliat we are governed b}^ a ruthless militaiy 
des})otism. I wonder how amazing it would be to 
i\\\y man in Europe, familiar as Europeans are with 
great ainiies, if lie were told that over a territory 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



101 



larger than France and Spain and Portugal and 
Great Britain and Holland and Belgium and the Ger- 
man Empire all combined, there were but eleven hun- 
dred and fifty-live soldiers ! That is all this Demo- 
cratic howl, this mad cry, this false issue, this absurd 
talk is based on — the presence of eleven hundred and 
fifty-five soldiers on eight hundred and fifty thousand 
square miles of territory, not double the number of 
the Democratic police in the city of Baltimore, not a 
third of the police in the city of New York, not 
double the Democratic police in the city of New 
Orleans. I repeat, the number indicts them ; it 
stamps the whole cry as without any foundation ; it 
derides the issue as a false and scandalous and parti- 
san make-shift. 

What then is the real motive underhung this 
movement? Senators on that side, Democratic ora- 
tors on the stump cannot make any sensible set of 
men at the cross-roads believe that they are afraid of 
eleven hundred and tift^^-five soldiers distributed one 
to each county in the South. The minute you state 
that, everj'bodv sees the utter, palpable, and laugh- 
able absurdity of it, and therefore we must go further 
and find a motive for all this ciy. We want to find 
out, to use a familiar and vulgar phrase, what is the 
cat under the meal." It is not the troops. That is 
evident. There are more troops, by fifty per cent., 
scattered through the Northern States east of the 
Mississippi to-day than through the Southern States 
east of the Mississippi, and yet nobod}' in the North 
speaks of it ; everybody would be laughed at for 
speaking of it ; and therefore the issue, I take no risk 
^n stating, I make bold to declare, that this issue on 
the troops, being a false one, being one without foun- 



108 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



dation, conceals the true issue, which is simply to get 
rid of the Federal presence at Federal elections, to 
get rid of the civil poi^'^r of the United States in the 
election of Representatives to the Congress of the 
United States. That is the whole of it ; and, disguise 
it as 3^ou may, there is nothing else in it or of it. 

You simply want to get rid of the supervision b}^ 
the Federal Government of the election of Represen- 
tatives to Congress through civil means ; and there- 
fore this bill connects itself directly with another bill, 
and 3"0u cannot discuss this militar^^ bill without dis- 
cussing a bill which we had before us last winter, 
known as the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Ap- 
propriation bill. I am quite well aware, I profess to 
be as well aware as any one, that it is not permissible 
for me to discuss a bill that is pending before the 
other House. I am quite well aware that proprietj^ 
and parliamentary^ rule forbids that I should speak of 
what is done in the House of Representatives ; but I 
know ver}^ well that I am not forbidden to speak of 
that which is not done in the House of Representa- 
tives. I am quite free to speak of the things that are 
not done there, and therefore I am free to declare 
that neither this Military bill, nor the Legislative, Ex- 
ecutive, and J udicial Appropriation bill, ever emanated 
from any committee of the House of Representatives 
at all : they are not the work of any- committee of 
the House of Representatives, and, although the 
present House of Representatives is almost evenlj^ 
balanced in party division, there has been allowed no 
solitary^ suggestion to come from the minority^ of that 
House in regard to the shaping of these bills. Where 
do they come from ? We are not left to infer; we are 
not even left the Yankee privilege of guessing, be- 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



109 



cause we know. The Senator from Kentucky (Mr. 
Beck) obliging!}^ told us — I have his exact words 
here — " that the honorable Senator from Ohio (Mr. 
Thurman) was the chairman of a committee ap- 
pointed b}^ the Democratic party to see how it was 
best to present all these questions before us." There- 
fore when I discuss these two bills together I am 
violating no parliamentary law, I am discussing the 
offspring and the creation of the Democratic caucus, 
of which the Senator from Ohio, whom I do not see 
in his seat, is the Chairman. 

Mr. Withers. I would ask the Senator if this bill 
was presented to the Senate by the Democratic 
caucus ? 

Mr. Blaine. No, sir. 

Mr. Withers. I would also ask if it was not re- 
]3orted b}" the grand Committee of the Whole, the 
highest committee of all committees, to the House of 
Representatives by a majority ? 

Mr. Blaine. Now 3"ou are asking me to tell what 
the House did. I would not do that, because that is 
against parliamentary law. [Laughter. 1 

Mr. Withers. It is probably against polic3\ 

Mr. Blaine. No, against parliamentarj' law. I 
will not discuss what the House is doing at all. The 
Senator cannot lead me into that. When he speaks 
about its being before a committee here, that is true. 

Mr. Withers. I wanted merely to sa3^ that I do 
not regard it as an improper suggestion, and in view 
of the broad declaration made by the Senator from 
Maine, both as to this bill and the other bill, of which 
the Senate has no knowledge, but which, I see, he 
proposes to debate, I cannot blame him for it ; I can- 
not find any objection particularly that he should 



110 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



drag in another bill in order to hang a speech upon 
it. I have no objection to that ; but in view of the 
declaration that it was not reported by any commit- 
tee, I simply wished to call attention to the fact that 
it was reported by the Committee on Appropriations. 

Mr. Blaine. The Senator asked me if it was not 
referred to a committee in this branch. Does the 
Senator wish me to answer that question, whether 
this bill I am discussing before the Senate now was 
before the Committee on Appropriations ? 

Mr. Withers. The Senator can consult his own 
pleasure in regard to the matter. 

Mr. Blaine. I suppose the Senator asked me 
what was done. I will not speak of what took place 
in the Committee on Appropriations, but I think the 
Senate can infer what took place there from what 
took place in the Senate Chamber last .Friday, when 
in solid phalanx the other side would not allow even 
a grammatical mistake to be corrected; and I repeat 
that up to this time no committee of either branch of 
Congress has exercised the slightest discretion what- 
ever upon this bill, or been permitted to do so in 
either branch of Congress. 

Mr. Withers. I entirel}^ dissent from the state- 
ment. Of course, it is not proper for either the Sen- 
ator or I to disclose what passed in the committee- 
room, but I deny utterly the accuracy of the state- 
ment. 

Mr. Blaine. This bill came from the Democratic 
caucus committee. It went to the House of Repre- 
sentatives. What took place there I will not speak 
of. It came here ; it went into the Committee on 
Appropriations of this body. What took place there 
I will not speak of; but I know it came back here 



IN THE TNTTED STATES SENATE. 



Ill 



without clotting an i or crossing a t. If there is any 

inference to be made 

Mr. Davis, of West Virginia. I aslv the Senator 
whether he was not on a sub-committee to consider 
the Army bill, the very bill which he has now in his 
hand. 

Mr. Blaine. I was a member of that sub-commit- 
tee. The honorable Senator, who is chairman of the 
Appropriations Committee, did me the honor to ap- 
point me upon it ; that is true : and I belieye there is 
no impropriety in my speaking of what a sub-com- 
mittee did. We sat on that bill, and we were neyer 
permitted to make any change in it whatever, not the 
slightest in the world. 

Mr. Davis, of West Virginia. Will the Senator 
tell me why he was not permitted ? 

Mr. Blaine. You ask me the secrets of the Demo- 
cratic prison-house, wh}' I was not permitted? I do 
not know. That is for you to tell. I want 3^ou to 
tell me why I was not permitted. 

Mr. Withers. Because you did not have enough 
support. 

Mr. Blaine. Because I was out-voted. 
Mr. Withers. That is the whole thing. 
Mr. Blaine. Two to one. 

Mr. Withers. The Senator said no opportunity 
was offered for au}^ modification or amendment. It 
was from that statement I dissented ; and I wish to 
call his attention to the fact that the broad way in 
which he has stated it cannot be sustained by the 
facts within his own knowledge. 

Mr. Blaine. Now I really get at the point made 
b}' the Senator. 

Mr. Withers. The majority only exercised that 



112 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



control over the bill which the}^ have always the right 
to do. 

Mr. Blaine. The Senator has told so much now 
that he reall}^ forces me to tell more, and that more 
is, that when I offered several amendments in the 
sub-committee the}^ said, ''we realh^ agree to these, 
and if we permit the bill to be altered at all we will 
let these in, but we do not intend to let this bill be 
touched." That was what was said in our committee. 
They did not object to several suggestions I made in 
regard to amendments to the bill, but the}^ simply 
sat and voted me down. This is the reason wh}^ I 
could not amend it. 

Now, Mr. President, I sa}^ you cannot possibl}^ de- 
bate one of these bills without debating the other, 
because when 3^ou come to read this new section 2002 
in the militaiy bill, it is to prevent any civil officer 
of the United States being present on election day. 
I am not now talking about military officers ; there 
is not a Senator on that side of the Chamber who 
ever saw a militarj^ force at the polls, in my judg- 
ment. 

Mr. Withers. The Senator is mistaken. 
Mr. Hereford. I desire to say in that connection — 
The Vice-President. Does the Senator from Maine 
yield ? 

Mr. Blaine. I will ^deld for testimony on that 
point. 

Mr. Hereford. The Senator, in making the asser- 
tion that he has made, is not only assuming to himself 
the power of omniscience, but ubiquity, that he at all 
times has been at all the polls — 

Mr. Blaine. Do not delay on that. Tell me if you 
ever saw anybody there ? 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



118 



Mr. Hereford. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Blaine. That is what I want to know. 

Mr. Hereford. Prior to the time that the State of 
West Virginia passed from under the control of the 
Republican party we always had the military there, 
and I have seen them at the polls making arrests on 
the da}^ of voting in my own town. 

Mr. Blaine. When ? 

Mr. Hereford. When ? 

Mr. Blaine. Yes, when did you ever see a military 
man in the uniform of the United States making- 
arrests at the polls ? 

Mr. Hereford. I have known of them making 
arrests in Mercer County. 

Mr. Blaine. When ? 

Mr. Hereford. If you stop a moment, I can look 
back and think. 

Mr. Blaine. I want to know when ? 

Mr. Hereford. In 18T0, sir. 

Mr. Blaine. Ten years ago ? 

Mr. Hereford. About that. 

Mr. Blaine. Or before that ? 

Mr. Hereford. It was after the war. I saw this : 
We had a company of soldiers stationed in the town 
where I lived, within one hundred steps of the vot- 
ing place, and that company on day of election were 
divided up, a part of them sent to an adjoining 
county — the county of Mercer — where the}^ expected 
to control the voters. 

Mr. Blaine. One company ? 

Mr. Hereford. And were placed there within 
seventy yards of the place of voting. 

Mr. Blaine. What did they arrest anybody for ? 
Mr. Hereford. For the purpose of intimidation. 



114 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



Mr. Blaine. Oh, 3'es ! 

Mr. Hereford, For the purpose of intimidation. 

Mr. Blaine. I should be glad to hear any other 
testimony on that side. 

Mr. Williams. I can tell the honorable Senator 
that I saw soldiers marched into the public square 
and stack their arms since the war. 

Mr. Blaine. What time since the war. 

Mr. Williams. Eighteen hundred and sixty- 
five. 

Mr. Blaine. That is a good while ago, and Ken- 
tucky was in a condition of upheaval about that time, 
1865. 

Mr. Williams. And I know from information that 
they were stationed at a number of polls in other 
portions of the State. 

Mr. Blaine. Has the Senator seen any since that 
time ? 

Mr. Williams. This I saw with my own eyes. I 
saw men go up in the presence of soldiers to vote. 

Mr. Blaine. Has the Senator seen any since 
1865? 

Mr. Williams. No, sir. 

Mr. Blaine. The Senator then has had fourteen 
years to brood over that, and he cannot stand it a 
minute longer. 

Mr. Williams. The power to put them there is 
still in the law; and it is to deprive the President of 
the authority to take them to the polls for which we 
now contend. 

Mr. Blaine. The Senator tells us that he is particu- 
larly sensitive a])Out what he saw when the country 
was still in a disturbed condition, fourteen years ago, 
while to-day there is not, and has not been for years. 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



115 



a solitary Federal soldier in Kentucky — not one. 
That is his testimony. Has any other Senator a 
statement to make ? 

Mr. Withers. The Senator will recollect that he 
denied that any Senator on this side of the Chamber 
had ever seen a soldier at the polls. 

Mr. Blaine. No ; I queried it ; I did not den}^ it. 

Mr. Withers. I understood the Senator to make 
the statement broadl3\ 

Mr. Blaine. I was not so broadly ubiquitous as 
the honorable Senator from West Yirginia supposed. 
I wanted to know whether any Senator there would 
rise up and say he had seen it. 

Mr. Withers. I am willing to abide by the re- 
porter's record of the remarks of the Senator. 

Mr. Blaine. If I made a slip of the tongue I will 
giadl}^ correct it. I could not be at every polling 
place in the South. There are thirteen thousand 
polling places in the South, and there are eleven 
hundred and fifty -five soldiers down there, and this 
great intimidation is to be carried on by one soldier 
distributing himself around to twelve polling places. 
That is the intimidation that threatens the South just 
now ; and I am just reminded by the honorable Sena- 
tor from Wisconsin (Mr. Carpenter) that the Supreme 
Court decided — a fact I did not recall at the moment 
— that the war did not^ close till April, 18G6 ; a state 
of peace had not come, and therefore the honorable 
Senator from Kentucky does not bring himself within 
the line of evidence. He onl}^ saw troops there in 

1865, during the war. Has he seen them since April, 

1866, in time of peace? 
Mr. Williams. No. 

Mr. Blaine. He has not. [Laughter.] Then 



116 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



should like some other Senator, if there is any one 
that has testimon}^ to give ; I should like to see some 
other Senator that has seen troops around the polls ^ 
bull-dozing and brow-beating and intimidating and 
controlling the popular wish, to rise if he has any tes- 
timony to give on the subject. 

Mr. Logan. If the Senator will allow me, perhaps 
I can make a statement about soldiers in Kentucky 
in 1865 m3^self. I happened to be in Louisville in 
1865 at the time of an election for Congress, when 
General Kousseau was a candidate for Representative 
in Congress. I was stationed at Louisville and had 
sixt^'-five thousand soldiers under my command. I 
was there on the day of election, and I made a speech 
there the night before the election. Those sixty-five 
thousand soldiers were stationed all around Louis- 
ville, and I never saw a more quiet, peaceable election 
in my life, and under orders the soldiers were kept 
from the polls and out of the city during the day of 
the election, under my own orders. 

Mr. BlxIine. All we get, then, in the testimony is, 
that the Senator from Kentucky says he saw troops 
in his State during the war, and the Senator from 
West Virginia sa3^s he saw them in his State once 
since the war — ten years ago. That is the amount of 
actual testimony we get on the subject. Now, Mr. 
President, I say this bill connects itself directly with 
the provisions which are inserted b}^ the Democratic 
caucus in the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial bill. 
The two stand together : the}^ cannot be separated ; 
because to-day if we enact that no civil officer what- 
ever shall appear under any circumstances with armed 
men at the polls — I am not speaking of Federal 
troops or military or naval officers — I should like to 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. lit 

know how, if you strike that out to-day in the mili- 
tsLYj bill that is pending^ you are going to enforce 
any provisions of the Election Laws, even if we leave 
them standing. Take this section of the Election 
Law, section 2024 of the Revised Statutes : 

The marshal or his general deputies, or such special 
deputies as are thereto speciallj^ empowered by him, 
in writing, and under his hand and seal, whenever he, 
or either, or any of them, is forcibh^ resisted in execut- 
ing their duties under this title, or shall, by violence, 
threats, or menaces, be prevented from executing such 
duties, or from arresting any person who has com- 
mitted any offense for which the marshal or his gen- 
eral or his special deputies are authorized to make 
such arrest, are, and each of them is, empowered to 
summon and call to his aid the bj^standers or posse 
comitatus of his district. 

I should like an}^ one to tell me whether a marshal 
can call together armed men under that, if you repeal 
this section in the Military bill ? Under heavy pen- 
alties, you say that no civil officer whatever, no 
matter what the disturbances, at an election of Rep- 
resentatives to Congress — no civil officer of the 
United States shall keep order. You do not say that 
in that same election the State officer may not be 
there with all the force he chooses, legal or illegal. 
You say that the United States, in an election which 
specially concerns the Federal Government, shall not 
have anything whatever to do with it. That is what 
you say, although the Constitution, as broadly as 
language can express it, gives the Government of the 
United States, if it chooses to exercise it, the abso- 
lute control of the whole subject — familiar to school- 
boys who have even once read tlie Constitution, in 
the clause: ''The times, places, and manner of liold- 
9 



118 JAMES G. BLAINE. 

ing^elections for Senators and Representatives shall 
be prescribed in each State b}" the Legislature thereof ; 
but the Congress ma}^ at an}^ time, b}^ law, make or 
alter such regulations, except as to the j)laces of 
choosing Senators." And every one knows that the 
contemporaneous exposition of that part of the Con- 
stitution, familiar also to every one in the country, 
the exposition by Madison and Hamilton, was to the 
effect that every government ought to contain in 
itself the means of its own preservation ; and ac- 
cording to Mr. Madison, quoting a Southern author- 
ity, it was more consonant to just theories to intrust 
the Union with the care of its own existence than to 
transfer that care to any other hands." 

There is not the slightest possible denial here that 
this is a constitutional exercise of power. If there is 
such a denial it is a mere individual opinion. There 
has been no adjudication in the least degree looking 
to the unconstitutionality of these laws. Your indi- 
vidual opinion is no better than mine; mine is no 
better than that of any other man who can hear a 
horn blown from the front steps of the Capitol. No 
individual opinion is worth an}- thing. We have a de- 
partment of the Government to pass upon the ques- 
tion. The legislative department has enacted these 
laws under what it believed to be a clear and explicit 
grant of power, and you have never had it judicially 
determined otherwise. But now you propose to as- 
sault the Election Laws, the supervisors, and the mas- 
shals in this Military bill ; and under the pretense of 
getting rid of troops at the polls you propose that no 
Federal oflicer— no civil officer of the Federal Gov- 
ernment — shall be there. That is the design ; that is 
the plain, palpable ol)ject. An amendment that will 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



119 



be offered here will test your sincerity on that subject ; 
whether you will allow the Federal Government to be 
present at all. I believe 3^ou do propose to allow two 
men of straw to stand up without aii}^ power ; to be 
present as witnesses ; to be counted themselves but 
not to count, as my friend from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Hoar) well suggests ; with no power whatever ; mere 
spectators on sufferance, not to be hustled out, nor 
kicked, nor clubbed, if the}^ behave themselves, but 
entirely at the mercy of the mob — guests standing 
there by the courtesy of the State, not standing- 
there armed with the panopl}^ of the Federal Gov- 
ernment and commanding in its great name an 
observance of law and of justice. You propose 
simply to permit, and permit is the word, two officers 
to be designated by Federal authorit}^ to be present, 
that is all ; not to have one particle of power, not to 
be clothed with a solitary attribute of authority, not 
to have an^^ force, not to have an}" legal status be3^ond 
that of casual spectators ; and, therefore, I sa}^ that 
you cannot debate this question without associating 
these two bills together. The one runs right into the 
other ; and I go so far as to say that if the Military 
bill should go through in its present form and become 
the law of the land, the remainder of this law on elec- 
tion da}^ is not worth anj^thing at all. The whole law 
of marshals and supervisors is worth nothing unless 
the civil authority of the United States has the power 
there to enforce its edicts. 

We are told too, rather a novel thing, that if we do 
not take these laws, we are not to have the appropri- 
ations. I believe it has been announced in both 
branches of Congress, I suppose on the authority" of 
the Democratic caucus, that if we do not take these 



120 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



bills as they are planned, we shall not have any of 
the appropriations that go with them. The honorable 
Senator from West Yirginia (Mr. Hereford) told it 
to us on Friday ; the honorable Senator from Ohio 
(Mr. Thurman) told it to us last session ; the honor- 
orable Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Beck) told it to 
us at the same time, and I am not permitted to speak 
of the legions who told us so in the other House, They 
say all these appropriations are to be refused — not 
merely the Arm}^ appropriation, for they do not stop 
at that. Look, for a moment, at the Legislative bill 
that came from the Democratic caucus. Here is an 
appropriation in it for defraying the expenses of the 
Supreme Court and the Circuit and District Courts 
of the United States, including the District of Colum- 
bia, &c., $2,800,000 " Provided,"— provided what ? 

That the following sections of the Revised Statutes relating 
to elections — 

Going on to recite them — 

be repealed. 

That is, you will pass an appropriation for the sup- 
port of the Judiciar}^ of the United States only on 
condition of this repeal. We often speak of this 
Government being divided between three great depart- 
ments, the executive, the legislative, and the judicial — 
co-ordinate, independent, equal. The legislative, un- 
der the control of a Democratic caucus, now steps 
forward and says : We offer to the Executive this 
bill, and if he does not sign it we are going to starve 
the Judiciary." That is carrying the thing a little 
further than I have ever known. We do not merely 
propose to starve the Executive if he will not sign 
the bill, but we propose to starve the Judiciary that 
has had nothing whatever to do with the question. 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



121 



That has been boldly avowed on this floor ; that has 
been boldly avowed in the other House ; that has 
been boldly avowed in Democratic papers throughout 
the country. 

And you propose not merely to starve the Judiciary, 
but you propose that you will not appropriate a soli- 
tary dollar to take care of this Capitol. The men 
who take care of this great amount of public property 
are provided for in that bill. You say the}^ shall not 
have any pay if the President will not agree to change 
the Election Laws. There is the public printing that 
goes on for the enlightenment of the whole countr}^ 
and for printing the public documents of every one 
of the Departments. You say they shall not have a 
dollar for public printing unless the President agrees 
to repeal these laws. 

There is the Congressional Library that has become 
the pride of the whole American people for its mag- 
nificent growth and extent. You say it shall not 
have one dollar to take care of it, much less add a 
new book, unless the President signs these bills. 
There is the Department of State that we think 
throughout the history of the Government has been a 
great pride to this country for the ability with which 
it has conducted our foreign affairs ; it is also to be 
starved. You say we shall not have any intercourse 
with foreign nations, not a dollar shall be appropri- 
ated therefor unless the President signs these bills. 
There is the Light-House Board that provides for 
the beacons and the warnings on seventeen thousand 
miles of sea and gulf and lake coast. You say those 
lights shall all go out, and not a dollar shall be appro- 
priated for the board, if the President does not sign 
these bills. There are the mints of the United States 



122 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



at Philadelphia, New Orleans, Denver, San Francisco, 
coining silver and coining gold — not a dollar shall be 
appropriated for them if the President does not sign 
these bills. There is the Patent Office, the patents 
issned which embody the invention of the conntry — 
not a dollar for them. The Pension Burean shall 
cease its operations unless these bills are signed and 
patriotic soldiers may starve. The Agricultural 
Bureau, the Post-Office Department, every one of the 
great executive functions of the Government is 
threatened, taken by the throat, highwayman-style, 
collared on the highway, commanded to stand and 
deliver in the name of the Democratic Congressional 
caucus. That is what it is ; simph^ that. Xo com- 
mittee of this Congress in either branch has ever re- 
commended that legislation — not one. Simply a 
Democratic caucus has done it. 

Of course this is new. We are learning something 
every day. I think you may search the records of 
the Federal Government in vain ; it will take some 
one much more industrious in that search than I have 
ever been, and much more observant than I have ever 
been, to find am^ possible parallel or any sensible sug- 
gestion in our past history of an^' such thing. Most 
of the Senators who sit in this Chamber can remem- 
ber some vetoes by Presidents that shook this coun- 
try to its centre with excitement. The veto of the 
National-Bank bill by Jackson in 1832, remembered 
by the oldest in this Chamber; the veto of the 
National-Bank bill in 1841 by Tyler, remembered b}^ 
those not the oldest, shook this countr}^ with a politi- 
cal excitement which up to that time had scarcelj^ a 
parallel ; and it was believed, whether rightfully or 
wrongfully is no matter — it was believed by those who 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



123 



advocated those financial measures at the time, that 
they were of the very last importance to the well-be- 
ing and prosperit}^ of the people of the Union. That 
was believed by the great and shining lights of that 
day. It was believed by that man of imperial char- 
acter and imperious will, the great Senator from Ken- 
tucky. It was believed b}^ Mr. Webster, the greatest 
of iSTew England Senators. When Jackson vetoed 
the one or Tyler vetoed the other, did 3^ou ever hear 
a suggestion that those bank charters should be put 
on appropriation bills, or that there should not be a 
dollar to run the Government until the}^ were signed ? 
So far from it that, in 1841, when temper was at its 
height ; when the Whig party, in addition to losing 
their great measure, lost it under the sting and the 
irritation of what they believed was a desertion b}^ 
the President whom the}^ had chosen ; and when Mr. 
Cla}^, goaded b}^ all these considerations, rose to de- 
bate the question in the Senate, he repelled the sug- 
gestion of William C. Rives, of Yirginia, who at- 
tempted to make upon him the point that he had 
indulged in some threat involving the independence 
of the Executive. Mr. Clay rose to his full height 
and thus responded : 

" I said nothing whatever of any obligation on the 
part of the President to conform his judgment to 
the opinions of the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives, although the Senator argued as if I had, and 
persevered in so arguing after repeated correction. 
I said no such thing. I know and I respect the per- 
fect independence of each department, acting within 
its proper sphere, of the other departments." 

A leading Democrat, an eloquent man, a man who 
has courage and frankness and man}^ good qualities, 
has boasted publicly that the Democrac}' are in power 



124 



JAIMES G. BLAINE. 



for the first time in eighteen years, and they do not 
intend to stop until the^^ have wiped out ever}^ vestige 
of every war measure. Well, '■'forewarned is fore- 
armed," and you begin appropriately on a measure 
that has the signature of Abraham Lincoln. I think 
the picture is a striking one, when you hear these 
words from a man who was then in arms against the 
Government of the United States, doing his best to 
destro}^ it, exerting eyevy power given him in a bloody 
and terrible rebellion against the authort}' of the 
United States, and when Abraham Lincoln was march- 
ing at the same time to his martyrdom in its defense ! 
Strange times have fallen upon us, that those of us 
who had the o:reat honor to be associated in hio'her or 
lower degree with Mr. Lincoln, in the administration 
of the Government, should live to hear men in public 
life and on the floors of Congress, fresh from the bat- 
tle-fields of the rebellion, threatening the people of 
the United States that the Democratic part}' , in power 
for the first time in eighteen years, proposes not to 
stay its hand until ever}^ vestige of the war measures 
has been wiped out ! The late Yice-President of the 
Confederacy boasted — perhaps I had better say stated 
— that for sixty out of the sevent3^-two 3'Lars preced- 
ing the outbreak of the rebellion, from the foundation 
of the Government, the South, though in a minority, 
had, by combining with what he termed the anti-cen- 
tralists in the j^orth, ruled thecountr}^; and in 1866 
the same gentleman indicated in a speech, I think 
before the Legislature of Georgia, that by a return to 
Congress the South might repeat the experiment with 
the same successful result. I read that speech at the 
time ; but I little thought I should live to see so near 
a fulfillment of its prediction. I see here to-day two 



IN THE UNITED STA.TES SENATE. 



125 



great measures emanating, as I have said, not from 
a committee of either House, but from a Democratic 
caucus in which the South has an overwhelming ma- 
jorit}^, two-thirds in the House, and out of the forty- 
two Senators on the other side of this Chamber, profess- 
ing the Democratic faith, thirtj' are from the South — 
twenty-three, a positive and pronounced majority, 
having themselves been participants in the war against 
the Union, either in military or civil station. So that 
is a matter of fact, plainly deducible from counting 
3^our fingers, the legislation of this countrj" to-day, 
shaped and fashioned in a Democratic caucus where 
the Confederates of the South hold the majority, is 
the realization of Mr. Stephens' prophecy. And, very 
appropriate!}^, the House under that control and the 
Senate under that control, embod^dng thus the entire 
legislative powers of the Government, deriving its 
political strength from the South, elected from the 
South, say to the President of the United States, at 
the head of the Executive Department of the Govern- 
ment, elected as he was from the jSTorth — elected b}^ 
the whole people, but elected as a Xorthern man; 
elected on Republican principles, elected in opposi- 
tion to the party that controls both branches of Con- 
gress to-day — they naturalh^ say, " You shall not ex- 
ercise your Constitutional power to veto a bill." 

Some gentlemen may rise and sa}^, "Do you call it 
revolution to put an amendment on an appropriation . 
bill ? " Of course not. There have been a great many 
amendments put on appropriation bills, some mis- 
chievous and some harmless ; but I call it tlie audacit}' 
of revolution for any Senator or Representative, or 
any caucus of Senators or Representatives, to get 
together and sslj, We will have this legislation or 



126 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



we will stop the great departments of the Govern- 
ment." That is revolutionary. I do not think it will 
amount to revolution; my opinion is it will not. I 
think that is a revolution that will not go around; 
I think that is a revolution which will not revolve ; I 
think that is a revolution whose wheel will not turn ; 
but it is a revolution if persisted in, and if not per- 
sisted in, it must be backed out from with ignominy. 
The Democratic party in Congress ^ave put them- 
selves exactl}^ in this position to-day, that if they go 
forward in the announced programme, they march to 
revolution. I think they will, in the end, go back in 
an ignominious retreat. That is my judgment. 

The extent to which they control the legislation of 
the countr}^ is worth pointing out. In round numbers, 
the Southern people are about one-third of the pop- 
ulation of the Union. I am not permitted to speak 
of the organization of the House of Representatives, 
but I can refer to that of the last House. In the last 
House of Representatives, of the forty-two standing 
committees the South had twentj^-five. I am not blam- 
ing the honorable Speaker for it. He was hedged in by 
partisan forces, and could not avoid it. In this very 
Senate, out of the thirty-four standing committees 
the South has twenty-two. I am not calling these 
things up ju'^t now in reproach; I am only showing 
what an admirable prophet the late Y ice-President of 
the Southern Confederacy was, and how entirely true 
all his words have been, and how he has lived to see 
them realized. 

I do not profess to know, Mr. President, least of 
all Senators on this floor, certainly as little as any 
Senator on this floor, do I profess to know, what the 
President of the United States will do when these 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



121 



bills are presented to Mm, as I suppose in due course 
of time the}^ will be. I certainl}^ should never speak 
a solitary word of disrespect of the gentlemen hold- 
ing that exalted position, and I hope I should not 
speak a word unbefitting the dignit}' of the office of a 
Senator of the United States." But as there has been 
speculation here and there on both sides as to what he 
would do, it seems to me that the dead heroes of the 
Union would rise from their graves, if he should con- 
sent to be intimidated and outraged in his proper 
Constitutional power b}^ threats like these. 

All the war measures of Abraham Lincoln are to 
be wiped out, say leading Democrats ! The Bourbons 
of France busied themselves, I believe, after the Re- 
storation in removing every trace of Napoleon's 
power and grandeur, even chiseling the N " from 
public monuments raised to perpetuate his glory ; but 
the dead man's hand from Saint Helena reached out 
and destro^-ed them in their pride and in their foll3\ 
And I tell the Senators on the other side of this 
Chamber — I tell the Democratic party Xorth and 
South — South in the lead and North following — that 
the slow, unmoving finger of scorn, from the tomb of 
the mart^a^ed President on the prairies of Illinois, 
will wither and destroy them. Though dead he 
speaketh." [Great applause in the galleries.] 

The Presiding Officer (Mr. ANTHO^"Yin the chair) : 
The Sergeant-at-Arms will preserve order in the gal- 
leries, and arrest persons manifesting approbation or 
disapprobation. 

Mr. Blaine. When 3^ou present these bills with 
these threats to the living President, who bore the 
commission of Abraham Lincoln, and served with 
honor in the Army of the L^nion, which Lincoln re- 



128 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



stored and preserved, I can think only of one appro- 
priate response from Ms lips or Ms pen. He should 
sa}^ to 3^ou with all the scorn befitting his station : 
Is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing ? 

During the political campaign in Ohio, in the Fall of 
18Y9, Mr. Blaine took ah active part, and his political 
tour through the State was much like a triumphal 
march. Great enthusiasm and enormous audiences 
greeted him in every portion of the State. His own 
cousin, Thomas Ewing, was the Democratic candidate 
for Governor. Mr. Blaine labored actively and earn- 
estl}^ for the election of Charles Foster, the Republi- 
can candidate, who was elected by a large majority. 
During the same Fall Mr. Blaine made a lengthy 
speech to a meeting of JSTew York merchants, in 
Cooper Institute, speaking in support of the financial 
policy and leading measures of the Republican party. 
The following is Mr. Blaine's speech on this occasion: 

Mr. Chairman : It is a healthful and encouraging 
sign in the politics of the country, when the merchants 
and business men of the great commercial emporium 
of the Nation see fit, in their distinctive character, to 
take part on the Republican side. [Applause.] I 
thank them for the honor of being permitted to ad- 
dress them. But I shall not apologize because this is 
a mere State election. The Democrats have been 
busy in the last month issuing pronunciamentos warn- 
ing off all outsiders from taking any part in this con- 
test. [Laughter and applause.] Having a disturb- 
ance in their own happy family (laughter), and having 
summoned the National Committee of the Democratic 
party, embracing one man from every State in the 
Union, and then having summoned the Hon. Benjamin 
llill, of Georgia (laughter and applause mingled with 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 129 

hisses,) as generalissinio in the great task of compos- 
ing the Democratic troubles of the New York De- 
mocracy, in order that they might get into line for 
the great national contest next year — but these con- 
sultations over all the States and Territories in the 
Union having utterly failed to produce an adjust- 
ment, it then occurred to The New York World ^ and 
other organs of the Democratic party, that this was 
purely a State contest, (laughter) involving some- 
thing about your canals and the rate of taxation which 
the County Supervisors shall levy. Well, if it were 
only that I should not be here. When Voltaire 
visited Congreve, the English poet said to him that 
he preferred to be visited as an English gentleman, 
and the French wit replied to him, that as an English 
gentleman he should not have paid the slightest at- 
tention to him in the world. [Laughter and ap- 
plause.] And I am very frank to say that if the 
question before the people of New York was the rate 
of taxation to be levied by your County Supervisors, 
or the amount of cheese-paring which had been 
affected, or the money that had been saved under the 
administration of Governor Robinson, I should not 
be here. But this election has a far wider and far 
greater and a far grander significance. And I beg 
you, not only in the specific instance of New York, 
but generally do observe whenever a hard-pressed or 
an assistant Democrat (laughter and applause) like 
Lucius Robinson, of New York, or Benjamin F. But- 
ler, of Massachusetts, (laughter) gets into tight place, 
they are always sure to make loud proclamation that 
there is nothing in the world involved but a little 
penny-whistle State issue, and they warn the people 
not to take any part in the issue at all. 



130 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



The Republican party are dealing with weight}^ 
things. They remember that in the Congressional 
elections of last year, the Democratic party through- 
out the country, in combination with the Greenback 
party, stood shoulder to shoulder in opposition to the 
resumption of specie pa^anents. They remember 
that both those parties proclaimed specie payment on 
the 1st of January, 1879, as an impossibility. They 
remember that they not only proclaimed it as an im- 
possibilit}^, but the}' said that the Republicans who 
were advocating it knew it to be an impossibility and 
were engaged in a gigantic conspirac}^ to deceive the 
people. And thus the contest of 18T8 closed. The 
ancient monarch said, " Time and I against the world." 
And so the Republicans had nothing to do but to 
wait, and in the revolving seasons the 1st day of Jan- 
uary was reached. The 1st da}^ of Januar}^ was 
reached in the 3^ear of grace 1879, and then against 
all the predictions of the enemies of the Republican 
party, on that great da}^, forever memorable in the 
financial historj' of America, on that great day the 
$700,000,000 of paper money in the United States, in 
the twinkling of an e^^e, without commotion, or dis- 
turbance, or excitement, was raised to par with coin. 
[Applause.] And there it will remain until long after 
the death of the great-grandchild of the youngest 
person here present. And this generation are per- 
mitted to see what no other generation of Americans 
ever saw, what no other generation of Americans 
ever dared to hope for, a paper currency good every- 
where, the same everywhere, good in thirty-eight 
States and nine Territories, over 3,000,000 square 
miles of area, among 47,000,000 of people, and good 
far out and lie} ond that, good in distant nations and 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



131 



far-off continents; for while we are here discussing 
political issues which involve, in a certain sense, the 
approval of the return of specie payments, while we 
are here debating and discussing, the Greenback dol- 
lar of the United States and the National bank dollar 
alike are the representatives of coin wherever com- 
merce extends or civilization is known. You can 
pass them in Liverpool, in London, in Paris, in Vi- 
enna, in St. Petersburg, in Cairo, in Bombay, in Hong 
Kong, in Honolulu, in Melbourne, on all continents 
and on all islands ; and to-night the limit of the cir- 
culation and the credit of the paper money of the 
United States is only that for which the pious old 
deacon, in the Presbyterian Church, in the monthly 
concert of prayer for the spread of the Gospel prayed 
— that the glad tidings of salvation might be carried 
to the uttermost parts of the earth, even to those des- 
olate regions where the foot of man never trod and 
the e3^e of man never saw. 

And now there is not in the United States a party 
that could rise up to destroy the Resumption Act. 
There is not a party in the United States of sufficient 
respectability in point of strength to cariT a single 
county that will incorporate in its platform the repeal 
of the Resumption Act. You may till a Congress 
with Benjamin P. Butlers and Samuel J. Tildens 
and Solon Chases — taking them in a' descending scale 
— and they won't dare repeal the Resumption Act ! 
You can't make a Congress of the United States to- 
day, selected outside of a lunatic asylum, that would 
repeal the Resumption Act, and if one Congress 
should be found that would do it, the people of the 
United States would rise up with one voice and 
send them inside the lunatic asylum pretty quickly. 



132 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



[Laughter.] Therefore, on that great issue, the strong 
initial point, the conclusion, really, of the whole con- 
trovers}', the Republican party stands to-day vindi- 
cated and triumphant. And all these opinions, too, 
on the financial question, simply nibble round the 
edges, and take up some subordinate issue, and try to 
excite prejudice, and mislead the people b}^ misstate- 
ment of fact. And with great unanimity, eminent 
men and men who are not eminent — Senators and 
men so little eminent I shall not mention them — -jump 
with singular unanimity upon the bait, and hold up 
the Republican part}^ as guilty of the error, or rather 
crime, of establishing a S3^stem of banks in this coun- 
tr}^ which are at war with the principles of justice 
and with the interests of the people. Now, Mr. 
Chairman, I am quite willing to admit — and I am not 
going to inflict a discussion on banking upon jou — I 
am quite willing to admit whatever defect — if defect 
there be — exists in the National banking system, 
which is chargeable upon the Republican part}^, I 
only ask for a fair debtor and creditor account on the 
political ledger, and that whatever of merit there may 
be there shall be carried to our account. 

When the war broke out we had thirty-three kinds 
of paper currency in this countr}^, with the Territo- 
ries to hear from. [Laughter.] Some was bad, some 
was good, and a good deal was indifferent. [Renewed 
laughter.] In New York 3^ou had good paper cur- 
rency. It was secured under a certain form and was 
in a certain measure the forerunner of the National 
system. We thought we had a good system of cur- 
rency in New England, which we called the Suffolk 
banking system. We thought we enjoyed one down 
in Maine, and yet regularl}' — with a periodicity which 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 133 

beat the return of the equinoctial storm — these 
banks would turn out defunct. I remember as if it 
were ^^esterda}^, on a pleasant morning in 1858, a 
large bank in Maine, known as the Shipbuilders' 
Bank, was announced as failed with $357,000 circula- 
tion out — and it is out 3^et. [Laughter.] There was 
that good thing about the old State Bank, when it 
failed it made a clean bang-up. You remember be- 
fore the war there was a stor}^ current in the papers 
of a celebrated coroner's inquest held on the bod}^ of 
a negro boy in Mississippi. The^^ quit holding coro- 
ners' inquests on negroes down there now (laughter) 
— but then they had value. Well, they had the 
coroner's inquest on the negro boy, who was found 
dead in a swamp, though all that was left of him was 
his skin. After hearing testimony for three days they 
unanimously returned a verdTct of " Found empty." 
[Laughter.] And that was the verdict on all the old 
State banks. And every twenty years from the time 
Washington was inaugurated down to the time of 
Lincoln, every twenty years the State bank circula- 
tion in this countr}^ was completel}^ lost, and it wasn't 
the banks that lost it either. [Laughter.] It was the 
bill-holders among the people. 

Andrew Jackson goes down to history for his un- 
compromising resistance to, and his ultimate destruc- 
tion of a great monopoly known as the United States 
Bank. Whatever politics I have I inherited from the 
Whig side of the house, and yet I believe in the im- 
partial verdict of history — that the American people 
believe to-day, and will still more come to believe, 
that in that contest between Jackson and the United 
States Bank, Jackson was right and the Whigs were 
wrong; on this simple ground, that the Congress of 
10 



134 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



the United States ought not and should not have 
given to one set of men any particular privilege of 
banking over and above any other set of men. [Ap- 
plause.] And tlierefore Jackson crushed it. But 
the time had not arrived, the opportunity had not yet 
come for Jackson to seize the old State banks. 

It would be a rash man who would say that Jack- 
son did not have the courage to seize that s^^stem. 
He had courage enough for anything, but the time 
had not then come. And there never did come a 
time when courage and opportunity fell together until 
the Republican part}^ came into power ; and the Re- 
publican party was the first part}^ that ever had the 
courage to take hold of the State bank sj^stem by the 
nape of the neck and hold it over the gulf of financial 
perdition, and let it drop down into it. But they did. 
They said hereafter in this country there should be 
no special charter ; they said that hereafter in this 
country whatever money there was should be Na- 
tional, that it should not be limited or circumscribed 
by State lines. [Applause.] In the olden time I could 
not have travelled through ten States, as I haA^e done, 
without having to change my monej^ ten times. Wh}^, 
if any man had appeared down in Maine before the 
war and brought a bill from the State of Ohio or Illi- 
nois, to a merchant, the first thing he would have 
done would have been to look at his counterfeit de- 
tector, and then straightway^ send for a policeman 
(laughter) on the evident presumption that the man 
had been either engaged in robbing a bank or utter- 
ing counterfeit money. 

But the Republican'party put an end to that. They 
said that money should be National, and when they 
came to establish a banking system, the}^ said j that 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



135 



two things should distinguish it. In the first place 
it should be just as free to one man in the United 
States as to any other, and no man should have a 
particle of advantage over any other man. I made 
this statement in a public meeting a little while ago, 
and a Greenbacker said, " Well " — he jumped up in 
the audience, as the Greenbackers used to do very 
lively before the election — Well," said he, "you can- 
not bank without the bonds." Said I, " Does that 
constitute a monopoly in N'ational banking?" Cer- 
tainly^," he replied, "you confine it to the fellows that 
have the bonds." I said, "Did it ever occur to you 
that farming was a monopoly?" "Certainly not." 
" Well, but it is entirely confined to the fellows who 
have the ground. [Laughter.] You cannot farm in 
a balloon [renewed laughter] or out at sea in a boat." 

The Kepublican party said that banks should be 
open to all alike, and to all on the same terms ; and 
then the Republican party, speaking through the in- 
strumentality of National legislation, said this one 
great thing — that while banking should be open to 
everybody on precisely the same terms, nobody^ 
should issue a solitary dollar of circulating money 
until they had put up United States bonds for every 
dollar bill, and then they might go, if they chose, and 
destroy their bank, they might go and misconduct 
themselves, and when they did and their banks, in the 
strong language of the " boys," were " bust," the 
United States should step forward and sell their 
bonds, and take care of the innocent third party, 
which is the public. [Ap]olause.] And from that day, 
Mr. Chairman, and I beg your attention to this as a 
merchant of New York — from that day there has 
been no bad money in the United States. [Applause.] 



136 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



The Republican party abolished bad money ; and 
from that da}^ forward, whatever mone}^ has been is- 
sued, has been issued under the image and the super- 
scription of the United States. 

''Ah! but," says our Greenback friend, "what 
do 3^ou want any banks to issue at all for ; why don't 
you have an issue directly from the Government? 
What do you want of the instrumentality and the in- 
termediate power of the banks to issue for, when you 
could do it direct?" Well, that is a wiser question 
than the}^ ask in some of their discussions. That is 
a question that cannot be passed lightl}^ by. That is 
a question demanding an answer, and if it can have 
an answer it must be given; if not, the question must 
be conceded. Well, I answer that question, being a 
Yankee — by adoption at least — I answer that question 
with the privilege of a Yankee hy asking another, and 
to that question I have never been able to get an 
answer. And that simple question is : If you pro- 
pose to have the Government of the United States 
issue all the paper money, to whom will 3^ou confiae 
the power of determining the when and how much ? 
You never saw one of the Greenback resolutions in 
your life that didn't say the}^ wanted enough for the 
demands of trade and for the business needs of the 
country. That is all right. We are all agreed upon 
that. We ought to have enough currency in this 
countr}^ for the demands of trade and the needs of 
business ; but that is only restating the conundrum. 
Who is to determine what shall be the amount needed 
for the demands of trade and for the needs of busi- 
ness? And if you have asked that question, as I have 
very many times, of very many audiences, and asked 
it for an answer, you find that they prefer to reply in 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



137 



this veiy way: Why, to be sure, leave it to Congress, 
leave it to Congress! Well, I am not presumptuous 
enough to present myself as one knowing a bit more 
than m}^ neighbor, but I do know a good deal more 
about Congress than those who have not been there. 
[Applause.] And I saj^, there is not a body of men 
in the United States so utterly unfitted for that func- 
tion as the Congress of the United States. [Ap- 
plause.] I say, moreover, that if that function was 
committed to Congress, there is not a merchant of in- 
tellgence — many of whom I have the honor to address 
— who would have agreed to buy or sell six months 
ahead, to deliver or sell ten thousand dollars worth of 
any commodity in the market, with a pending session 
of Congress that might ruinously contract the cur- 
renc}^ in one direction, or still more ruinously expand 
it in the other. 

But Congress did perform that function, say the 
Greenbackers. I would like to know when it was 
that Congress undertook to decide how much paper 
currency should be used for the demands of business 
and trade in this country. " Why, during the war," 
they said. Wh}^, my Greenback friend, in 3'our in- 
fancy in knowledge, when Congress issued green- 
backs, the question was not how much money was 
needed for the business of the country, but whether 
we were going to have any countr}^ left to do busi- 
ness in (laughter and applause) — a still more, a far 
more important question — and that question was so 
important that it so entirel}' over-rode and kept out 
of view the other, that we issued greenbacks without 
the slightest possible regard to their effect upon the 
business of the country. To such a degree was this 
done that with $150,000,000 of them out they were 



138 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



worth $147,000,000 in gold coin in June, 1862, and 
with $400,000,000 of them ont in June, 1864, they 
were onl}^ worth $145,000,000 in gold coin. If we 
had kept on in that line, I leave it to the younger 
portion of m}^ audience to cipher what might have 
been the result. 

But still another and graver point. When the 
second period arrived, when $400,000,000 of United 
States greenbacks were worth but $145,000,000 in gold 
or silver coin, we stood on the eve of what happily 
proved the closing 3^ear of the war. And the Loan bill 
reported from the Committee of Ways and Means in 
the XXXVIIIth Congress proposed to borrow from 
our own people and from whomsoever else would lend 
it $1,000,000,000. I am recalling to those who haA-e 
frosted heads facts as familiar to them as to m^'self. 
I hope I am reviving to, and possibl}^ teaching, some 
history to those who were but children and hoys at 
that period. A little while after, the children of that 
day heard with perfect amazement that the great 
German Empire in the contest with France, having 
overthrown the Government of Napoleon, had de- 
manded the enormous and incalculable indemnity of 
$1,000,000,000, and it seemed to them an incalculable 
sum indeed. But yet when we stood on the eve of 
the fourth 3^ear of the war, we had already spent on 
the average a thousand million of dollars in each of 
the three preceeding years, and we were proposing to 
borrow a thousand million for the fourth, and as a 
matter of fact we actually spent $1,300,000,000. Do 
you ever reflect what it is to belong to a country that 
spends $1,300,000,000 a year? When Congress stood 
at this critical point in the histor^^ of the country^ 
tlicy realized, as every man of sense outside of Con- 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



139 



gress realized, that the destruction of the greenback 
was the destruction of the National credit of the 
United States. [Applause.] 

There has been a great deal of "bosh" — if I may 
use that term — a great deal of " bosh " talked about 
the difference between the bondholder and the green- 
backholder. Every man of sense knows, or he ought to 
know, that there never was a moment in the financial 
ial history of the United States when the greenback 
could have been destroj^ed without carrying the bonds 
down with them. Never. When the Continental 
currenc}^ ceased to be of value every other form of 
currency went down ; and there never was a moment 
when Congress could have permitted the greenback 
to have been sacrificed without sacrificing every other 
form of National credit. Congress understood that, 
and when they framed the great closing Loan bill of 
the war, the}^ put it there voluntarily — I ought not to 
put that word in ; thank God, the United States have 
never been forced to do anything. [Laughter and 
applause.] Of course they did it voluntarily ; they 
put it in the forefront of the bill that the total 
amount of United States notes — that is greenbacks — . 
issued and to be issued, should never exceed $400,- 
000,000. And that in the forefront of the closing 
Loan bill, which furnished the mone}^ for the great and 
victorious campaigns of Grant and Sherman (ap- 
plause), constituted as solemn and as honorable a 
pledge as a great people conld give. The people of 
the United States stood — if you might personify them 
in one man — before the nations of the workl and be- 
fore their own people ; they said : We have a great 
countiy here ; it spans a continent ; its authority is 
resisted by a wicked and causeless rebellion. We ask 



140 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



yon to loan us the money to supply the men and 
means to put that rebellion down ; and lest you may 
have an}" fear that the currenc}" of the country shall 
be destroyed, and its bonds thereby destroyed also, 
we agree herewith to give you, in this hour of need, 
to be sacredly observed in the hour of triumph — we 
give you that undivided pledge of a great people, that 
the greenback currenc}" of this countrj^ shall never 
exceed $400,000,000." And for that declaration every 
Democrat in the Senate and ever}^ Democrat in the 
House voted with everj^ Republican in the Senate 
and ever}" Republican in the House. The vote was 
unanimous, unanimous. 

Now, what a man may do ignorantly, ma}^ God for- 
give him! But a man that voted for that, and has, 
in his own witness, seen the United States get its full 
advantage on that pledge, seen, himself being witness, 
that that pledge has wrought its perfect work for the 
Government of the United States — I say that the 
man who, having assisted in that pledge, and seen it 
fully vindicated and redeemed so far as the interests 
of the United States were concerned, would now pro- 
pose to break it, is a man — I will be mild — (laughter) 
— is a man who ought not to be trusted with an}^ pub- 
lic position. I was going to use stronger language. 

Do you mean to sa}- , it may be asked, that that i^ar- 
ticular pledge made in 1864 should stretch out to the 
crack of doom over the people, and bind them hand 
and foot in all generations in the future ? I don't say 
any such thing. I am not looking upon all the gen- 
erations of the future. I have learned, in a public life 
of some length, if we take care of the honor of this 
generation we will do our share, and as to the limit 
of the pledge, this is it : It is binding upon the peo- 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



141 



pie of the United States until the uttermost farthing 
of debt, for which it was made the foundation and 
corner-stone, shall be paid. [Applause.] 

And then, leaving the banks and leaving the green- 
backs, the}' tell us that the Republican part}' has OA^er- 
taxed the people. I observe lately, as I have had 
reason to o^et some strav numbers of the leadino- 
Democratic paper, it is raising the cry that the people 
ought to be relieved from the immenseh^ burdensome 
taxation now weio'hino- them down and taxiuo' the life 
out of them — taxation levied by the National Govern- 
ment that was oppressing them so. That will bear 
examination. The taxation of the United States is, 
in round numbers, two hundred and fort}' million 
dollars per annum — a pretty large sum — and in round 
numbers one hundred and thirty millions of it are 
raised from the Tariff, and one hundred and ten 
millions from Internal Kevenue. Xow, I shall esteem 
my visit to Xew York a very lucky one for myself 
if I shall be enlightened upon this point : ** What 
particular portion of the taxation of the United 
States is it that is bearing dowD with oppression 
and severity upon any citizen ? I would like to be 
told what particular part of it, if repealed, would let 
him go forth freer and lighter next day. Just one. 
What is the taxation to-day ? 

I will take the Tariff first. What is the taxation 
to-day levied by the Tariff, that if repealed to-mor- 
row would make a great relief generally ? I am not 
going into the question of Protection. I am taking 
the existing status of the last revenue charges. Has 
there ever been a time in the memory of any man 
present when woolens, cottons, sheetings, shirting and 
articles of domestic consumption and every-day wear 



142 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



were as cheap to the people of the United States as 
they are in this j^ear of grace 1879'/ [Applause.] Xow, 
I have not said that some articles are not rather 
dearer. But they are articles of luxury which are 
made dearer. Silks are dearer, velvets are dearer, laces 
are dearer, camel's-hair shawls are dearer. [Laughter.] 
But if a, lad}' needs a camel's-hair shawl, anfl her 
father or husband is able to pay $1,000 for it, he 
is able to chip in a little for the dut}^ [Applause.] 
Besides, 3'ou see, a thousand-dollar camers-hair shawl 
is not absolutely essential to a lady's respectabilit}^ 
here, or her salvation hereafter. [Applause.] Xow, 
on these articles of luxur}', not of use, it is the Re- 
publican party who are responsible for the tariff. I 
don't want to dodge any of these things. For that 
existing status the Bepublican party is answerable ; 
it was responsible, and takes the credit for it. Well, 
on this matter, they are willing to open the books. 

Generally, I find a man very much oppressed with 
the tax on coflTee. We took that off in June, 1872. 
[Laughter.] Prior to that time we had been getting 
$8,000,000 a year out of it; and under the demand 
for a free breakfast table men thought it wise and 
patriotic. Men, who think the}" know a great deal 
more than any body else, insisted that it was the 
unanimous demand of the American people that the 
tax be removed, so we took the tax off of coffee. 
And six months after that the wise and beneficent 
ruler of Brazil, finding that it didn't pay either an ex- 
port or an import duty, finding that the tax had been 
taken off in this countr}', thought that it would pay 
to look after that article, and he decided to put on an 
exi)ort dut3\ [Laughter.] Then, after looking into 
the glass twice, we perceived that we had been legis- 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



148 



lating $8,000,000 out of the Treasuiy of the United 
States, and put that handsome sum into the Treasury 
of Brazil. [Laughter.] 

And so it would be just the same with sugar. We 
had a large duty on sugar — very large, quite enor- 
mous— $38,000,000 or $40,000,000; the people of 
America have a very sweet tooth. [Laughter.] If 
the statistics of the Custom House are correct since 
General Arthur left it (great cheering and applause) 
— if they are right, the people of the L^nited States 
used 1,800,000,000 pounds of sugar last 3'ear, which is 
about forty pounds for every man, woman, and child 
and bab}^ in the countr3\ If the people of the United 
States were to take off that tax, Spain which has ex- 
hausted its intellect and ingenuity for a century to 
wring the last dollar out of Cuba, would see whether 
it could not bear an export tax. And so in the end, 
in the case of sugar as in the case of coffee, if we took 
the duty off we would be letting the tax go into the 
Treasury of Spain instead of into our own, leaving 
the price the same to the American consumer. [Ap- 
plause.] 

So I want the papers to tell us what tax we are to 
take off, in order that the people of the United States 
ma}' find relief. I want the Tribune or any other 
paper to instruct me, or the Democrats, as it has 
done (applause), for I am in search of knowledge on 
the Tariff. [Laughter.] 

Again, take another instance. A man said to me 
once: Why, look at the tax on railroad iron; isn't it 
at a tremendous figure?" I replied that I didn't then 
care to go into an exhaustive discussion on the ques- 
tion of Free-Trade or Protection. I could say, how- 
ever, that as far as I was concerned, I was a Protec- 



144 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



tionist. [Applause.] Well, I said to this gentleman: 
Certainly .the tax looks a little heavy; but now. as 
an experienced man in that branch of the industries 
of the country, tell me 3'Our private opinion — tell me 
what the price of iron would have been only for this 
tax, if the tax had not fostered this enormous iron in- 
terest in the country, and thus created the great com- 
petition in the market from England at the present 
day. Wh}^, we would have been at their merc}^ and 
allowed them, if they had control of the subject in 
their hands, to put up the price to whatever figure 
they chose. How do you think now, my friend, the 
price would have been to-day?" He then admitted 
that he supposed he would not have been able to get 
the iron as cheap as he did. [Applause.] 

So much for the Tariff. Now as to another matter. 
Is anybody distressed with the internal revenue? 
[Laughter.] I haA^e said that in round numbers 
$110,000,000 were the returns of the internal revenue. 
Last 3^ear we had $113,000,000 and I say that every 
dollar reached the Treasury. [Great cheering.] Con- 
sidering the fact that it came through Collectors and 
Deputj-CoUectors, and assistants and messengers in 
various forms and departments — a good many in all — 
and it happened to reach its proper destination at the 
right time, we ought to take heart and courage and 
believe that there is some honesty left in this wicked 
world yet. [Laughter.] It is a little healthier than 
the better, purer and honest days of the Republic 
when the Democrats ruled the Treasurj^ They used 
to allow $14 on eyery $1,000 for picking and stealing. 
[Great laughter.] Well, now, this $113,000,000, where 
does it come from ? $103,500,000 of it, which is nearly 
all of it, comes from the whisky and tobacco trade. 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



145 



Do you regard that as particularly oppressive in New 
York? [Laughter.] We rather eujoy it down in 
Maine, and I will tell you here just how to avoid 
pa^dng any of it, because this tax is a peculiar one. 
I This tax is not like the tax on your farm or house or 
i stock, because you need not pay a solitary penny 
of it unless you choose, and if joxi do not drink, if 
you do not chew, or if you do not smoke, jow go 
entirel}^ free of the tax. It is not exactly a case of 
1 paying your money and having 3^our choice, but 
you make your choice and then pay 3^our money. 
[Laughter.] 

Joking aside, this tax is a wise one. The elder 
Napoleon, who was statesman as well as warrior, said 
that he found that the two vices of the use of spirits 
and of tobacco paid him 300,000,000 francs, and he 
had never found two virtues in the Empire that paid 
it so well. [Applause.] And, my friends, I will say 
for myself that if you show me two such virtues I 
will vote for them myself. We get it, and get it 
easih^, and we get it without the oppression of any 
human being. 

I found in some sections of Ohio, down in the 
Hocking Yalley coal regions, where General E wing- 
was speaking a little while ago (laughter), that they 
had the match tax. [Laughter.] There was great 
oppression from the match tax. Well, I found that 
down in Maine, wherever Greenbackism prevailed, 
the}^ were impressed with the idea that the people 
were suffering an untold and cruel oppression from the 
match tax. I asked a man one day whom I met about 
this tax. I asked, How many matches do you use in 
your family?" " Well," he said, " two gross?" and he 
answered so promptly that I knew that he came pre- 



146 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



pared. [Great Laughter.] I said, "did 3^011 ever 
count how maii}^ there are in two gross ?" well," he 
replied, " one gross is one hundred and forty-four and 
two gross is two-hundred and eighty-eight, and there 
being one-hundred matches in each box, that makes 
twenty -eight thousand eight hundred matches, and 
that's about eight}' matches a day," I asked him: 
" Now don't 3^ou think that that number of matches 
takes an almighty amount of scratching?" [Great 
laughter.] I am used to country' audiences, and if I 
overshoot or undershoot the mark in the presence of 
city tolks, 3^ou will attribute it to m}' country educa- 
tion. [Renewed laughter.] But take the average 
farmer and I should suppose thirt}' boxes of matches 
would be a ver}^ abundant supph^, and the family 
using thirty boxes is taxed to the extent of one-thir- 
teenth of a cent a day, and I submit to you what I 
did to the people of Maine, that considering the 
trouble that Columbus had in finding this continent, 
and the trouble that Washino'ton had in founding; the 
Republic, and Grant and Sherman and Lincoln, or 
Lincoln, Grant and Sherman had in putting down 
the Rebellion, that the average American citizen will 
still hold on to the Federal Government, despite 
the one-thirteenth of a cent. [Laughter and ap- 
plause.] 

There never was any greater nonsense than to talk 
about the taxes of the United States being oppres- 
sive. I do not know anything about your State taxes 
— that is Governor Robinson's business. [Laughter 
and appLause.] Those I do not touch. There is not 
a solitary financial issue on which the Republican 
party has taken ground since the beginning of the 
war, and especially since its conclusion, on which 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



time and circumstance and truth have not vindicated 
them. [Great applause.] Xot one. I for one would 
step out of the camp at an}' time, if an}' Democrat of 
respectability would tell me of one solitary issue, on 
which the Republicans have taken ground and put 
into the form of legislation, in which they have not 
been vindicated both by the facts and in the judg- 
ment of the American people. [Great applause.] A 
single instance. You know we were harried to death 
all over the country, platforms fulminated, orators 
reiterated, resolutions --resoluted" (laughter) on the 
subject of the taxation of bonds, and you were as- 
sured that the fate of the country hung upon it. The 
Republican party took the ground that they could 
not be taxed. They took the ground that it was not 
wise to tax them. [Applause.] 

[At this point some one in the audience shouted 
from the rear of the hall, Speak up, James, we can't 
hear." The remark occasioned an outburst of laugh- 
ter lasting for some time, which Mr. Blaine appeared 
to enjoy heartily.] The Republican part}', he con- 
tinued when the u23roar was ended, took the ground 
that the bonds of the United States, even if they could 
be taxed, ought not to be taxed, and that the result 
of it would be against the interests of every man, rich 
and poor, in the country. And now, instead of stand- 
ing to claim at the end of this agitation that the Dem- 
ocrats have abandoned it — instead of standing here 
to claim that the bonds of the United States ought to 
be exempt longer from taxation, I stand here to say 
that the bonds of the United States pay a larger share 
of the taxation of this country than any other form 
of investment ; and that under the policy of the Re- 
publican party that has come to pass, they are placed 



148 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



as the one form of property which does pay the taxe s 
of the countr}'. A single moment on that. 

Out where that gentleman interrupted me so pleas- 
antly jnst now I see three conservatiYe-looking men 
— or rather, two not so conseryative — that look like 
three men down in Maine who are about to invest 
$10,000 apiece. One of them, the most conservatiye, 
who is willing to take an}^ interest if he can have it 
safe, thinks he can take the United States bonds. 
To be sure, S400 a year for 810,000 does not look 
very large, but he is willing to take it, and he does take 
it, and hiijs $10,000 of the bonds of the United 
States and takes them home, and lets everybody 
know it. Right next him stands a gentleman who 
saj^s he can go down in Wall Street and get a thing 
just as good as United States bonds, and realize 6 
per cent. He can buy, he saj^s, State bonds, good 
State bonds, and so, as he prefers 6 per cent, to 4, he 
puts his $10,000 in* those bonds. And there is 
another gentleman a little beyond who takes his $10,- 

000 and says there are a great many bonds, first-class 
railways and so on, that pa}^ 7 per cent.; so he puts 
his money in them and gets T per cent. Now, I take 
it for granted that in a cit}^ like Xew York, with so 
man}^ churches, and as full of piety as a city must be, 
so near to Brooktyn (laughter), that at the moment 
those aentlemen who had invested their $10,000 in 6 
and 7 per cent, bonds, get them, the}^ will go right to 
the assessor the next day and inform him of the fact. 

1 see by your silent acquiescence that this is a uni- 
versal habit in New York. [Laughter.] Down in 
the country where we don't know so much, we don't 
always find the wa}- to the possessor's office. [Re- 
newed laughter.] 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



149 



Now, gentlemen, levity aside, suppose these invest- 
ments actually made, and the three gentlemen go 
home and lock up their three investments in their 
safes, and they say nothing to any one. At the end 
of the 3^ear which of these three men has paid his 
taxes ? That is the question I beg to submit. The 
man who agreed to have it taken out at the beginning 
and discounted at the office, or the man who takes 
the whole of his interest, dodges the assessor, and 
locks it up in his safe? Suppose to-day, as the Demo- 
crats have clamored for two or three years — making- 
it a part of their National platform — suppose that by 
a meeting the bonds of the United States be declared 
subject to taxation to-morrow ; of course 3"0u would 
have no longer four per cent., you would get six, an 
increase of two per cent, on the amount of the issue, 
which would be paid back by taxation. Suppose you 
do make them taxable, would 3'ou expect that those 
who invested in them would form in a long proces- 
sion, singing as they go, " We're the chaps that have 
got them.'' [Loud laughter.] There is no propert}' 
in the world that is so easy to evade taxation. 
You know how they are kept. Generally in a little 
tin trunk, securel}^ deposited in the safe. And if a 
man happen to be discovered in the possession of 
them, nineteen chances out of twenty, the man sa^^s 
they belong to his brother who is out in the diggings 
of Colorado, or his son who is grazing out West, or 
his brother's widow, now educating her children in 
Europe. [Laughter.] The}-^ would be anybody's ex- 
cept those in whose possession they are found, and 
the result would be that if this idea was put in force 
the Government of the United States would be 
mulcted $35,000,000 per annum. 
11 



150 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



I mentioned this not as a living question, because 
it is past, but as a leading one on which the Demo- 
crats hounded us for twelve 3^ears, and to show that 
the Republican party has been vindicated to the last 
letter and figure in a ]^x)lic3^ which the people approve. 
I repeat, if the Democrats will show a single feature 
and single measure in the financial policy of the Ee- 
publican i3arty, in an}^ form, which has not been ap- 
proved by the people — if thc}^ will show a single 
measure which has been passed, in the demagogue 
language that is so frequently used, ''in the interest 
of the bondholder," as distinguished from the interest 
of the people, and the obligations of l^ational honor, 
I will agree to withdraw my weak point altogether. 
It is not much, but it is all I have to offer. 

About February 20th last, the House of Represen- 
tatives at Washington, under the control of the Demo- 
crats, sent to the Senate of the United States, which 
was then Republican, two Appropriation bills. One 
was for the Army, and the other for the support of the 
Legislative and Judicial and Executive Departments 
of the Government, containing the salaries for the 
payment of all the civil officers of the United States 
in all the great departments of that Government. 
These bills were not in the usual form. They con- 
tained certain conditions which the Democratic House 
said to the Republican Senate must be complied with, 
or else that Democratic House would not appropriate 
any money for the support of the Government. If I 
had not spoken so long, I would give you five-min- 
utes recess in order to take in the length and breadth 
and heighth and depth of that abounding impudence. 
[Laughter.] Here was a Democratic House, entirely 
ill the control of the Southern wing of that party 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



151 



that said to the Republican Senate : " There are cer- 
tain statutes of the United States that we don't like. 
We are not able to repeal them unless 3^ou agree to 
it, and we don't know any wa}^ to make 3^ou agree to 
it, excepting by letting you know that we propose to 
choke the Government of the United States until you, 
willing to take it from its last gasp, will consent and 
submit to our demands." [Laughter.] 

Well, the Republican Senate, although only Re- 
publican b}' two majority, was a jyvetty stiff bod}', 
and in as polite language as high temper would 
admit, the}' advised the House that the}' did not pro- 
pose to take the bills on those conditions, and so the 
session of Congress closed without any appropriations 
being made for these great departments of the Gov- 
ernment of the United States. And thereupon the 
President of the United States, as in plain duty 
bound, called Congress together in extra session ; 
and then by the transmutation in political strength 
the Democrats had both houses of Congress. And 
then the game changed a little. Prior to the 4th of 
March it had been an attempt on the part of a Dem- 
ocratic House to bull-doze the Republican Senate, 
and now they thought that a Democratic House and 
a Democratic Senate might unite and bull-doze a Re- 
publican President. And so, after a proper debate, 
these measures were passed. They passed the Ap- 
propriation bills, and they put these riders or attach- 
ments or conditions upon these bills, and after they 
had been properly debated they were sent to the 
President. And when they reached the President he 
seems to have had open before him the Constitution 
of the United States, just at that section where it 
says that every bill having passed both houses of 



152 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



Congress shall be sent to the President, and if he ap- 
prove he shall sign it, bnt if he do not approve he 
shall return it to the House in which it originated 
with his objections. The President applied it with 
great literalness ; in fact he returned it to the House 
in which it originated with his objections. [Laughter 
and applause.] 

And then they tried him again, and still the Con- 
stitution would open just at that point, and the 
President returned it again. [Laughter.] And then 
they tried it in a modified form, sliding down a little, 
a third time, and still the President saw objections to 
his signing it and returned it with those objections. 
And then, in a little bit of a case, they tried it a 
fourth time and failing, with both branches united, to 
bull-doze the President, this great roaring Democratic 
party which came in so full of courage and menace, 
breathing out threatenings and slaughter on all who 
should oppose it, went out like a little snarling, dis- 
contented spaniel, with his tail between his legs, snarl- 
ing and biting considerably and threatening to renew 
the fight next 3^ear. 

The people of the United States are a ver}^ practi- 
cal people, and the}^ have a natural curiosity to know, 
and have been trj^ing to find out just what these laws 
were, that the Democrats proposed to suspend the 
functions of the Government unless they could have 
them repealed. Well,I shall not repeat statutes to you. 
I think I can tell you in brief what the^^ were. At the 
same time I don't think I need to tell 3^ou what they 
were ; because if there be any spot in the United 
States, that ought instinctively to know what they 
were and are, it is this City of New York. In the 
coimtr^' we understand it to be, what in the cit^^ yon 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



153 



call an open secret, that in 1868 the vote of the City 
of Xew York which elected Seymour over Grant and 
Hoffman over Griswold was a fraud, and it was given 
by fraud. [•• That's so ! and applause.] Congress- 
ional investigation exposed that fraud. A distin- 
guished Senator of Xew York stated on the floor of 
the Senate, that the investigation had exposed such 
remarkably phenomenal voting that, in the old Sixth 
Ward — the " Bloody Sixth we used to call it by 
way of pet name — that in the old " Bloody Sixth " 
the whole Democratic majority in that year — the 
Democratic majority — I don't mean the Democratic 
vote — was larger in number than all the men, women, 
children, babies, horses, cats and dogs together. 
[Laughter.] Well, the Republican party thought 
that this kind of voting ought to be stopped, and 
that when it came to be practised at the elections of 
Representatives to Congress it was high time for 
Congress to do something. So they passed the ini- 
quitous Election Law — iniquitous in the judgment of 
the Democratic party — this cruel, tja'annical law that 
I said I would explain to you. That terribly tyran- 
nical law, if I understand it aright, says that in cities 
of 20,000 or upwards, whenever a Representative to 
Congress or Presidential Elector is to be chosen, if 
there be ten men who think the}^ cannot have a fair 
election under the State laws, they may apply to the 
Circuit or United States District Judge, and that 
Judge under this terrible law shall appoint two su- 
pervisors for each polling place ; and in order to 
make the law tyrannical beyond endurance, these 
supervisors shall be taken one from each party, and 
then that they shall take their seats as State officers ; 
and these supervisors, carrying out the provisions of 



154 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



the Republican enactment, shall see to it that every 
man entitled to vote shall vote if he applies to do it, 
and after his vote is in the ballot-box it shall be fairly 
counted. Think of that ! 

The Democrats one and all in 'Congress said they 
couldn't live under that law. [Laughter.] They 
said there were two objections: First, that the law 
was in contravention of State Rights ; and in the 
next place, a more practical one was that if it stood 
the}^ would not carry the elections. [Laughter.] It 
was on that that the fight took place. Now as to the 
theory of this being a State-Rights question. Why, 
if there be anj^thing l^ational it certainlj^ is the elec- 
tion to the JSTational Congress, and the express pro- 
vision of the Constitution gives to Congress the right 
to regulate that if it chooses. And when you are at- 
tempting to hem that in, and confine it within the 
narrow limits of State Rights, 3"ou are treading upon 
the personal rights of ever}^ individual in the whole 
country, because e.Yerj member of Congress elected, 
in far ofi" and remote districts, has just as much and 
just the same power over your interests as the ones 
you choose in your own city. The Representative of 
the ward in which we are assembled has no more 
power over the great and multiplied interests of the 
vast emporium of trade than he who is elected in 
Texas,or California, or Maine. Therefore ever}^ citizen 
in every district of the L^nited States has a right to 
see and demand that ever}^ other district besides that 
in which he himself votes shall have a fair and honest 
election. [Loud and continued applause.] 

That is the whole of this law. That is all there is 
of it. It was not all there was of the discussion 
(laughter,) because they attempted to mix up with it, 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



155 



in a wa}^ to throw dust in the eyes of the people, the 
terrible charge that the Republicans were engaged in 
suppressing free suffrage and oppressing a free peo- 
ple by the use of the bayonet at the polls. And we 
had a six-weeks discussion oyer that, and during the 
whole of that discussion in the Senate, with a large 
Democratic majority, there was not one Senator who 
could say or would saj' that he had eyer seen a 
United States soldier at the polls. [Applause.] Xot 
one. Mr. Hereford, of TTest Virginia, a yery candid 
gentleman, who would not misrepresent an3'thing in- 
tentionalh^, thought he had some yaluable testimony 
to giye on the question, and it amounted to about 
this : That during an election a dozen j^ears ago he 
heerd tell (great laughter) that a man who came 
from the adjoining county had "heerd tell," (renewed 
laughter) that oyer on the other side of the mountain 
range, where neither of them had been, there had 
been some troops used at the polls. But when we 
came to inyestigate the records at the War Depart- 
'ment, we found that there neyer had been a soldier in 
West Tirginia at all. [Laughter.] Senator Wil- 
liams, of Kentucky, said he had seen troops at the 
polls in 1865. [Great laughter.] Teiy likely he 
did ; they were pretty thick around at that time. 
[Laughter.] He saw them just as he was getting 
home from a four-3^ears rebellion against the Goyern- 
ment. [Applause.] I belieye he could haye said 
with a great deal more truth that he had seen more 
of them there a year before. [Laughter.] All the 
other Democratic Senators failed to respond. [Great 
laughter.] Mr. Bayard, a highl}' distinguished man of 
the Democratic part}^, could not say that there was a 
soldier in Delaware for fifteen years. [Laughter.] 



156 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



Senator Thurman did not tell about the awful oppres- 
sion resulting in Ohio from this cause, and so far as 
the Democratic testimou}^ went it was a singular kind 
of evidence. 

I had occasion to make a few remarks the other 
evening in this place, after the speech of the distin- 
guished Secretarj^ of the Treasury; I called the atten- 
tion of those present to the size and overwhelming 
proportions of the Army of the United States. 
[Laughter.] Its tremendous extent may be judged 
when, filled up to the last regiment and last battalion 
and company, it amounts to 25,000 men. [Applause.] 
Its actual numerical strength is about 21,000. It is 
the hardest-worked army on the face of the globe. 
[Applause.] It has the vastest region to traverse 
and to guard ; it has the largest frontier line to 
defend ; it has the greatest number of infant set- 
tlements and adventurous frontiersmen away out 
in the mountain ranges, passes, and defiles to 
look after; it is an army, as I have said, that is 
worked almost to death. They are all engaged out 
there. And as I remarked here, if you draw a line 
through Omaha north and south, and taking the 
whole of that countrj^ that lies east of it, about 44,- 
000,000 of people in thirty-two States, voting at 18,- 
000 polling places, in 1,Y00 counties, there are just 
1,132 troops to do the intimidating business. [Ap- 
plause.] And that is all there is. And if we could 
parcel those out in ever}^ State, North and South, east 
of the Missouri River, all they could do would be to 
march a ragged sergeant and corporal abreast through- 
out three counties. [Laughter.] 

The numerical argument is a sufficient answer. It 
is an utterly indefensible cry, for which there is no 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



15t 



justification in fact. There was never an army less 
disposed to interfere with the suffrage ; there never 
was an army less disposed to interfere with what are 
political issues than the Arm}^ of the United States. 
[Great ajjplause.] And 3^et, in the Senate of the 
United States, when the Democrats for six weeks were 
calling the attention of the country to this false and 
fraudulent cry, I ventured to test the sense of that bod}" 
by offering an amendment which I thought at least had 
some value — I moved an amendment in these words 
— they were busy warning off the United States Army 
from where it had not chosen to interfere, and on that 
warning the}^ desired to strip the President of the 
United States of the rightful command of the troops 
— ' that at any election in any State for Representa- 
tive in Congress or Presidential Elector, it shall not 
be lawful for any man to come to the polls armed 
with an}^ weapon, either open or concealed (great ap- 
plause), under penalt}" of a fine not less than five 
hundred dollars, nor more than five thousand dollars 
and imprisonment for not less than three months nor 
more than five years, or both at discretion." [Ap- 
plause.] For I thought, and I think so the more and 
more I refiect on it, that if there be an}' day in the cal- 
endar in which there should be absolute immunity 
from all possibility of danger, it is that great day 
when the freemen of a free republic are summoned 
together to cast a free ballot. [Applause.] 

And yet this Democratic Senate, that was so 
alarmed at the possibility of a couple of soldiers de- 
scending on three counties — this Democratic Senate, 
who had on their tables at that time the official proof, 
gathered by a committee of their own bod3^ that in 
the election of the preceding year, 1878, thirty-eight 



158 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



men had been murdered in connection with the elec- 
tions of Louisiana and South Carolina alone — this 
Democratic Senate, so solicitous, I say, to warn off 
the Army that never fired a shot or raised a flag ex- 
cept in defence of the right (loud applause) — these 
Democratic Senators, so anxious to warn off the le- 
gitimate authority of the Republic, could not find any 
Constitutional power to say that the bloodj^-minded 
Ku-Klux gang, that makes elections in the South 
first a ghastl}^ farce and then a still more ghastly 
murder, should be stopped ; and on the second offer- 
ing of the amendment every solitary Senator on the 
Democratic side voted against it. And then the 
Senator from Minnesota, Mr. Windom, took the 
amendment, as I had brought it forward, and inserted 
certain words so that it should read thus : ''That it 
shall not be lawful for any man to come to the poll, 
armed with a deadb/ weapon, open or concealed, for 
the i^urpose of interfering with another man's right 
to vote " (" Hear, hear,"), making it the dut}^ of the 
prosecution — and as eyevj lawj^er would know, a 
hard duty — to prove that the offender came with that 
purpose. And even with that defence for the wrong- 
doer and extremely difficult task for the prosecution, 
every Democratic Senator voted against it, voted 
that the Ku-Klux should not be arrested, even with 
that difficult proof to be obtained by the prosecution. 

I would not dare to tell this stor}'' if there was not 
a Congressional Record. I think I know how to tell 
the truth ; but I would not risk my individual ve- 
racity on a question so extraordinary as that, if there 
were not the stereotyped plates of the official report 
of Congress, because it seems so absolutely incredi- 
ble that in the nineteenth century, in the Senate of a 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



159 



free Republic, that a majority of its members should 
be found to give that vote. [Applause.] 

And these are the men that opposed, step by step, 
an Election Law which never assayed to do an3^thing 
but secure equal rights to the voter ; these are the 
men that said the Army of the United States, needed 
for the protection of citizens, of the settler and the 
frontiersman over a million square miles of infant ter- 
titory, should never have one dollar for its support 
until the Republican President should sign that bill 
— which he didn't. These are the men that talked of 
the other great Dei^artment of the Government, and 
said there should not be a dollar appropriated for the 
Post-Office Department. A little inconvenient, to be 
sure, to the people of the United States, to close the 
Post-Office Department ; but what is that compared 
with the importance of the Democratic party having 
an obnoxious Election Law wiped out ? They said 
there should not be a dollar appropriated for the 
Pension Department. Two or three thousand fami- 
lies of maimed or dead soldiers are dependent, it is 
true, in whole or part, on the honorable beneficence 
of their Government ; what is that compared to the 
demand of the Democratic party that a law which 
stands in the wa}^ of their carrying elections shall be 
wiped out? The pensioners can wait, and mayhap 
starve, in the interest of a Democratic victory. They 
said — and this is of interest to this great commercial 
metropolis — that there should not be a dollar appro- 
priated for the Lighthouse Bureau, and that all this 
world of commerce, floating over 17,000 miles of 
coast and lake, and gulf and ocean, might go to de- 
struction before they would appropriate a single 
dollar to light a single beacon. 



160 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



I might go on enumerating the whole strength, 
power, benevolence, charity, good deeds of the Fed- 
eral Government that were in these two bills, and this 
Democratic party said that these two bills should not 
be passed unless the Republican party, as a condition 
of their being passed, would agree b}^ the signature 
of their President against his constitutional belief — 
would agree to the repeal of a law which as a party 
they did not like. ] Applause.] 

Now my friends, I think I am somewhat read in 
the political annals of this country. [Applause.] I 
defy any man in the histor}^ of this country from the 
early inception of the first steps of independence to 
this hour, in an}^ popular assembly, State or National, 
to show" me one solitary line of legislation that com- 
pares in infamy with that. [Great applause.] Senator 
Thurman, of Ohio, said that this was a happy coun- 
try, a happ3" and prosperous country, until the Re- 
publicans got in, and then they disturbed everything. 
[Great laughter.] Well, the Republicans came into 
power in this country in 1861. That is the time thej^ 
began to disturb things. [Laughter.] Eighteen 
years have since elapsed, and during this time the 
Republicans have disturbed things and destroyed the 
prosperity of the Republic. Why just please remem- 
ber, that the property of the American people, added 
by themselves, to themselves, is larger in these eigh- 
teen years than all that had been created in the United 
States from the discovery of the continent by Colum- 
bus. Just remember, that in these eighteen years the 
articles exported from the United States are larger by 
$1,800,000,000 than all that was ever taken from our 
shores, from the Declaration of Independence down 
to the inauguration of Lincoln. Just remember, that 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



161 



the railways built in this country since Lincoln was 
inaug-urated are as large, if not larger, than all the 
miles of railway in the civilized world at the day of 
his inauguration. [Applause.] That is the way we 
have been destroying the countr3^ And during these 
eighteen years we have been afflicted with four years 
of war and six of financial depression. And now we 
are just entering upon another period of eighteen 
years. [Great applause.] And I want the young- 
people of this assembly to get in Cooper Institute or 
some larger building at the end of those eighteen 
years in the year of grace 189t, and remember, if they 
remember my humble name at all, (cries of " Yes they 
will" and applause,) that I told them to-night that 
the wealth acquired in this country in those eighteen 
years would be larger than all that existed in the 
country to-day. [Applause.] 

And now, my friends you have a duty to perform. 
You have an election next Tuesda}' . Senator Hen- 
dricks, in the late campaign in Ohio, in a formal speech, 
advised the people of the United States that who- 
ever raised the cry of a Solid North was a traitor. 
[Laughter.] A fearful denunciation for Mr. Hen- 
dricks ! [Laughter.] A Solid South is sweet to 
Mr. Hendricks' ears. I hope I shall live long 
enough to outlive the day of political division on the 
line between the South and the North. [Applause.] 
And I will tell you how, in my political faith, we 
shall outlive it. We shall outlive it by showing, in 
the might and majesty of a free people, that a Solid 
South shall not prevail in the acquirement of politi- 
cal power in this country. And we will put to liight 
and dispel the illusion of Democratic leaders about 
solidifying the Southern States and combining them 



162 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



with a fragment of the North — in which fragment 
they always include your imperial State — combining 
them with a fragment of the North, and with this 
combination governing the country. They mistake 
the spirit of New York. [Applause.] For in that 
contest New York will be as she was in the contest 
in the field for the Union — she will be at the head of 
that great column of States that stand for the Union 
and for the rights of all. [Great applause.] 

Now I want every man in New York, when he 
votes on Tuesday next — or rather, before he votes — 
to ask himself this simple question, " Whom do Jeff- 
erson Davis and Robert Toombs and their associates 
desire to have elected Governor of New York ? " 
[Applause.] As between Kelly and Robinson they 
haven't smy choice. They would unite gleefully in 
the chorus, " How happy I could be with either, were 
'tother dear charmer away." [Laughter.] But not 
one of them from" the Potomac to the Rio Grande 
wants Alonzo B. Cornell. And I want every man to 
remember that in voting for Cornell he votes for the 
best sentiments of the Republican part}^ in its best 
days. [Applause.] And I want them to understand 
that in his support there are no divisions in the Re- 
publican party. There is no Hayes, no anti-Hayes in 
the Republican party. [Applause.] It is a great 
consolidated power, always at the front in the hour 
of danger. It has led us in safety in dark and troub- 
lous and perilous days, and on its success hangs the 
fate of the American Union as that Union was de- 
signed to be by its founders. [Long and continued 
cheering during which Mr. Blaine resumed his seat.] 

The State election in Maine in September, 1818, 
gave that State a Democratic and Greenback admin-. 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



163 



istration, but the Repiiblicaus carried the election in 
September, 18t9, electing Frank Davis, Governor. 
The Democratic State administration — Governor 
Garcelon and his Council — attempted to retain the 
control of the State in the hands of the Democrats 
and Greenbackers Ly counting out a number of Re- 
publican members of the newh' elected Legislature 
on technical errors. During the last half of Decem- 
ber, 18 1 9, and the first half January, 1880, the State 
was almost on the verge of civil war and anarch3^ 
But through the steadiness, persistence, ?.nd success 
with which Mr. Blaine conducted the Republican 
party through its troubles, he brought law and 
order out of chaos and threatened violence. iSo finer 
display of statesmanlike qualities has been seen in 
this country ,and the American people saw, in the 
protracted and perilous struggle in Maine, that Mr. 
Blaine exhibited all the qualities requisite for the dis- 
charge of the most difficult and delicate duties of an 
executive station. 

The following is Senator Blaine's eulogy on the late 
United States Senator Zachariah Chandler, delivered 
in the United States Senate, Januaiy 28, 1880: 

Mr. Chandler sprang from a strong race of men, 
reared in a State which has shed lustre on other 
Commonwealths by the gift of her native-born and 
her native-bred. She gave Webster to Massachu- 
setts, Chief Justice Chase to Ohio, General Dix to 
New Yorl^, and Horace Greeley to the head of Ameri- 
can journalism. Mr. Chandler left New Hampshire 
before he attained his majority, and with limited 
pecuniaiy resources sought a home in the inviting 
territor}^ of the Northwest. He had great physical 



164 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



strength, with remarkable powers of endurance ; pos- 
sessed energy that could not be overtaxed ; was gifted 
with courage of a high order ; was imbued with prin- 
ciples which throughout his life were inflexible ; was 
intelligent and well instructed ; and in all respects 
equipped for a career in the great and splendid region 
where he lived, and grew, and strengthened, and pros- 
pered, and died. 

For a long period following the second war with 
Great Britain the Territory of Michigan was governed 
b}^ one of the most persuasive and successful of 
American statesmen, whose pure and honorable life, 
whose grace and kindness of manner, and whose 
almost unlimited power in what was then a remote 
frontier Territory, had enabled him to mould the vast 
majority of the early settlers to his own political 
views. When Mr. Chandler reached Detroit, General 
Cass had left the scene of his long reign — for reign 
it might well be called — to assume control of the 
War Department under one of the strongest admin- 
istrations that ever governed the country. The 
great majority of young men at twenty years of age 
naturally drifted with a current that was so strong ; 
but Mr. Chandler had inherited certain political prin- 
ciples which were strengthened b}^ his own convic- 
tions as he grew to manhood, and he took his stand 
at once and firmly with the minority. He was from 
the outset a strong power in the political field ; 
though not until his maturer years, with fortune at- 
tained and the harder struggles of life crowned with 
victory, would he consent to hold any public posi- 
tion. But he w^as in all the fierce conflicts which 
raged for twenty years in Michigan, and which ended 
in changing tlie political mastery of the State. It is 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 165 

no matter of wonder that personal estrangements 
occurred in such prolonged and bitter controvers}", 
without indeed the loss of mutual respect, and in one 
of the most exciting periods of the struggle General 
Cass spoke publicly of not enjoying the honor of 
Chandler's acquaintance. It was just three years 
afterward, as Mr. Chandler delighted to tell with 
good-natured and pardonable boasting, that he car- 
ried to General Cass a letter of introduction from the 
Governor of Michigaa, which so impressed the Gen- 
eral that he caused it to be publicly read in this 
Chamber and placed on the permanent files of the 
Senate. It is to the honor of both these great men 
that complete cordiality of friendship was restored, 
and that in the hour of supreme peril to the nation' 
which came soon after. General Cass and Mr. Chand- 
ler stood side by side in maintaining the Union of 
the States by the exercise of the war power of the 
Government. The}^ sleep their last sleep, in the same 
beautiful cemetery, near the city which was so long 
their home, under the soil of the State which each 
did so much to honor, and on the shores of the lakes 
whose commercial development, spanned b}^ their 
lives, has been so greatly promoted b}' their efforts. 

The anti-slavery agitation which broke forth with 
such strength in 1854, following the repeal of the 
Missouri Compromise, met with partial reaction soon 
after, and in 1856 Mr. Buchanan was chosen to the 
Presidency. Mr. Chandler took his seat for the first 
time in this body on the day of Mr. Buchanan's 
inauguration. It was the first public station he had 
ever held except the Mayoralt}^ of Detroit for a sin- 
gle term, and the first for which he had ever been a 
candidate, except when in 1852 he consented to lend 
12 



166 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



the forlorn hope of the Whigs in the^ contest for 
Governor of Michigan. When he entered the Sen- 
ate the Democratic party bore undisputed sway in 
this Chamber, having more than two-thirds of the 
entire body. The^party was led by resolute, aggres- 
sive, able, uncompromising men, who played for a 
high stake and who played the bold game of those 
who were willing to cast all upon the hazard of the 
die. The party in opposition, to which Mr. Chandler 
belonged, was weak in numbers but strong in charac- 
ter, intellect, and influence. Seward, with his phil- 
osophy^ of optimism, his deep study into the working 
of political forces, and his affluence of rhetoric, was 
its accepted leader. He was upheld and sustained by 
Sumner, with his wealth of learning and his burning 
zeal for the right ; by Fessenden, less philosophic 
than Seward, less learned than Sumner, but more 
logical and skilled o 'fence than either ; by Wade, who 
in mettle and make-up was a Cromwellian, who, had 
he lived in the days of the Commonwealth, would 
have fearlessly followed the Protector in the expusiion 
of an illegal Parliament, or drawn the sword of the 
Lord and Gideon to smite hip and thigh the Amele- 
kites who appeared anew in the persons of the cava- 
liers; b}^ Collamer, wise and learned, pure and digni- 
fied, conscript father in look and in fact ; by John P. 
Hale, who never faltered in his devotion to the anti- 
slaver}^ cause, and who had earlier than any of his 
associates broken his alliance with the old parties, 
and given his eloquent voice to the cause of the des- 
pised Nazarenes ; by Trumbull, acute, able, untiring, 
the first Republican Senator from that great State 
which has since added so much to the grandeur and 
f^lory of our history ; by Hamlin, with long training. 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. ^ 167 

with devoted fidelity, with undaunted courage, who 
came anew to the conflict of ideas with a State behind 
him, with its faith and its force, and who alone of all 
the illustrious Senate of 1857 is with us to-day; by 
Cameron, with wide and varied experience in affairs, 
with consummate tact in the government of parties, 
whose active political life began in the days of Mon- 
roe, and who, after a prolonged and stormy career, 
still survives by reason of strength at fourscore, with 
the strong attachment of his friends, the respect of 
his opponents, the hearty good wishes of all. 

Into association with these men Mr. Chandler en- 
tered when in his forty-fourth year. His influence 
was felt, and felt powerfully from the first day. A 
writer at the time said, that the efiect of Chandler's 
coming was like the addition of a fresh division of 
troops to an army engaged in a hand-to-hand conflict 
with an outnumbering foe. He encouraged, upheld, 
inspired, coerced others to do things which he could 
not do himself, but which others could not have done 
without him. His first four years in the Senate were 
passed in a hopeless minority, where a sense of com- 
mon danger had banished rivalry, checked jealotisj^, 
toned down ambition, and produced that effective 
harmony and splendid discipline which won the most 
signal and far-reaching of all our political victories 
in the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency. 
Changed by this triumph and the startling events 
which followed into a majority party in the Senate, 
the Republicans found many of their oldest and 
ablest leaders^ trained only to the duties of the 
minority, and not fitted to assume with grace and 
efficiency the task of administrative leadership. They 
had been so long studying the science of attack, that 



168 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



they were awkward, when they felt the need and as- 
sumed the responsibility of defense. They were like 
some of the British regiments in the campaign of 
Namur, of whom William of Orange said there was 
no fortress of the French that could resist them, and 
none that was safe in their hands. 

It was from this period that Mr. Chandler became 
more widel}^ kno_wn to the whole country — achieving 
almost at a single bound what we term a national 
reputation. His defiant attitude in the presence of 
the impending and overwhelming danger of war ; his 
superb courage under all the doubts and reverses of 
that terrible struggle between brethren of the same 
blood; his readiness to do all things, to dare all 
things, to endure all things for the sake of victory to 
the Union; his ardent support of Mr. Lincoln's Ad- 
ministration in every war measure which was pro- 
posed; his quickness to take issue with the Adminis- 
tration when he thought a great campaign was about 
to be ruined by what was termed the Fabian policj' ; 
his inspiring presence, his burning zeal, his sleepless 
vigilance., his broad sympathies, his ])rompt decision, 
his eager patriotism ; his crowning faith in the final 
result, all combined to give to Mr. Chandler a front 
rank among those honorable and devoted men who, in 
our war history, are entitled to stand next to those 
who led the mighty conflict on the field of battle. 

To portray Mr. Chandler's career for the ten con- 
secutive 3^ears after the war closed would involve too 
close a reference to exciting questions, still in some 
sense at issue. But in that long period of service, 
and in the shorter one that immediately preceded his 
death, those who knew him well could observe a con- 
stant intellectual growth. lie was fuller and stronger 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 169 

and abler in conference and in debate the last year of 
his life than ever before. He entered the Senate 
originally without any practice in parliamentary dis- 
cussion. He left it one of the most forcible and 
most fearless antagonists that could be encountered 
in this Chamber. His methods were learned here. 
He was plain and yet eloquent; aggressive and yet 
careful; fearless without showing bravado. What he 
knew, he knew with precision ; the powers he pos- 
sessed were always at his command ; and he never de- 
clined a challenge to the lists. Here and now'' was 
his motto, and his entire Senatorial career, and his 
life outside indeed, seemed guided bv that spirit of 
bravery which the greatest of American Senators ex- 
hibited in the only boast he ever made, when he 
quoted to Mr. Calhoun the classic defiance : 

Concurritur ; horse 
Momento cita mors venit, aut victoria Iseta. 

Mr. Chandler's fame was enlarged by his successful 
administration of an important Cabinet position. 
Called by President Grant to the head of the Interior 
Department by telegraphic summons, he accepted 
without reluctance and without distrust. His eighteen 
years of positive and uncompromising course in the 
Senate had borne the inevitable fruit of many enmi- 
ties, as well as the rich reward of countless friends. 
The appointment was severely criticised and unspar- 
ingly condemned by man}^ who, a year later, were 
sufficiently just and magnanimous to withdraw their 
harsh words and bear generous testimony to his ex- 
ecutive abilit}^, his painstaking industr}^, and his in- 
flexible integrity ; to his admirable talent for thor- 
ough organization, and to his prompt and graceful 
dispatch of public business. What his friends had 



ITO JAMES G. BLAINE. 



before known of his character and his capacity, the 
chance of a few brief months in an administrative 
position had revealed to his entire countr}^, and had 
placed in history. 

It would not be just, even in the generous indul- 
gence conceded to eulogy, to speak of Mr. Chandler 
as a man without faults. But assuredl}^ no enemy, 
if there be one above his lifeless form, will ever say 
that he had mean faults. They were all on the gen- 
erous and larger side of his nature. In amassing his 
princely fortune he never exacted the pound of flesh ; 
he never ground the faces of the poor ; he was never 
even harsh to an honest debtor unable to pay. His 
wealth came to him through his own great ability, 
devoted with unremitting industry for a third of a 
century to honorable trade in that enlarging, ever- 
expanding region, whose capacities and resources he 
was among the earliest to foresee and to appreciate. 

To his friends Mr. Chandler was devotedty true. 
Like Colonel Benton, he did not use the word 
''friend" lightl}", and without meaning. Nor did he 
ever pretend to be friendly to a man whom he did not 
like. He never dissembled. To describe him in the 
plain and vigorous Saxon w^hich he spoke himself — 
he was a true friend, a hard hitter, an honest hater. 

In that inner circle of home life, sacred almost 
from preference, Mr. Chandler was chivalric in devo- 
tion, inexhaustible in affection, and exceptionally 
happ3' in all his relations. Whatever of sternness 
there was in his character, whatever of roughness in 
his demeanor, whatever of irritability in his temper, 
were one and all laid aside when he sat at his owm 
hearthstone, or dispensed graceful and generous hos- 
pitality^ to unnumbered guests. There he was seen 



REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1880. HI 

at his best, and there his friends best love to recall 
him. As Burke said of Lord Keppel, He was a 
wild stock of pride on which the tenderest of hearts 
had grafted the milder virtues." 

A sage, whose words have comforted many genera- 
tions of men, tells us that when death comes, every 
one can see its deplorable and grievous side — only 
the wise can see causes for reconcilement. Let us 
be wise to-da}^, and celebrate the memoiy of a man 
who stood on the confines of age without once feeling 
its weakness or realizing its decay — who passed 
sixty-six years in this world without losing a single 
day of mental activity or ph} sical strength ; who had 
a business career of great length and unbroken pros- 
perity ; who had attained in public life a fourth elec- 
tion to the Senate of the United States — an honor 
enjoyed by fewer men in the Republic than even its 
Chief Rulership ; and who, strengthening with his 
years, stood higher in the regard of his countrj^men, 
stronger with his constituenc}^, nearer to liis friends, 
dearer to his kindred, at the close of his career, than 
on any preceding da}' of his eventful life. 

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1880. 

The Presidential campaign of 1880 was now ap- 
proaching. Tlie most prominent candidates before the 
people for the Republican nomination were General 
U. S. Grant, James G. Blaine and John Sherman. 
General Grant had but recently returned from a three- 
years tour around the world and his political friends 
and admirers were ardent and persistent in pressing 
his claims before the country. The supporters of 
Senator Blaine were loudly enthusiastic in promoting 
j the candidacy of their favorite. The adherents of 

j 



172 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



John Sherman, Secretary of the Treasury under 
President Ha3^es' Administration, were also earnest 
in furtherance of the pretensions of their candidate. 

The movement for the nomination of General Grant 
for a Third Term was led hy three United States 
Senators — Roseoe Conkling of 'Ne^y York, James 
Donald Cameron of Penns^dvania, and John A. 
Logan of Illinois. This Senatorial triumvirate 
formed the head of an alliance of the most formida- 
ble and aggressive character. Senator Cameron was 
absolute master in Pennsylvania, Senator Conkling 
had almost as firm a hold on New York, and Senator 
Logan was almost as thoroughly monarch of Illinois. 
These three men worked together for a common end, 
to serve their common ambition for political power, 
and victor}^ seemed easily possible for them. 

If they could not like Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, 
divide " this great empire " between them, they might 
jointly govern it through a man of their own selec- 
tion, and each be secured in the absolute patronage 
of a State, so great as to be an empire in itself. Gen- 
eral Grant was the fast friend of these three men, 
who were determined to nominate him for President, 
whether the people desired it or not. They had 
adroitly managed State conventions, packed with 
Grant delegates, and with these the three great lead- 
ers went to Chicago to force Grant's nomina- 
tion. 

Arrayed against the powerful Grant host were the 
friends of the other candidates for the Republican 
nomination. Three of these candidates were United 
States Senators : James G. Blaine, of Maine ; George 
F. Edmunds, of Vermont, and William Windom, of 
Minnesota. John Sherman, President Hayes' Secre- 



REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1880. 173 

taiy of the Treasury, was also a candidate, as was 
also the Hon. Elihii B. Washburne, of Illinois. 

Of all the candidates opposed to Grant the most 
powerful and the most popular was Senator Blaine. 
The Republican masses earnestly desired his nomina- 
tion, and had no sympath}^ with the Grant Third- 
Term movement, however much they admired Gen- 
eral Grant. Notwithstanding all the efforts of the 
Grant Senatorial triumvirate many of the States sent 
Blaine delegates to Chicago, and mam^ of the leading- 
newspapers in the country were enthusiastic in his 
support. 

Wednesday, June 2, 1880, was the day. and Chi- 
cago was the place, fixed for the meeting of the Re- 
publican National Convention, to nominate candi- 
dates for President and Yice-President. That 
National Convention was one of the most important 
political conventions ever held in this country. It 
was the battle-ground on which several important 
questions — such as the unit rule, district representa- 
tion, and the right of the people to elect their own 
delegates — were settled only after a hard-fought 
struggle. 

Though one of the Grant leaders — Senator Cameron 
— was Chairman of the Republican National Commit- 
tee, the majorit}^ of the Committee were opposed 
to Grant's nomination. By Mondaj^, May 31, 1880 — 
two da3^s before the meeting of the National Conven- 
tion — Chicago had filled up with delegates and poli- 
ticians from all over the Union. To secure the unit 
rule — by which entire State delegations were bound 
to vote as instructed by their respective State Con- 
ventions, notwithstanding the preferences of indi- 
vidual delegates — the Grant leaders were fully com- 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



mitted, as it was necessary to do so in order to force 
Grant's nomination. A meeting of the Republican 
National Committee was accordingly hastily called at 
the Palmer House. The anti-Grant men made an 
effort to break down the unit rule, by which the del- 
egates from New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois 
were bound to obey Conkling, Cameron, and Logan. 
The Committee's meeting was secret. As soon as the 
Chairman, Senator Cameron, had called the Commit- 
tee to order, William E. Chandler of New Hampshire, 
one of the Blaine leaders, offered two resolutions re- 
cognizing the right of individual delegates to vote 
according to their convictions, regardless of the 
action of their respective State Conventions binding 
them to vote as a unit. 

The first resolution was adopted unanimously, 
whereupon Chairman Cameron ruled the second reso- 
lution out of order, and refused to entertain an ap- 
peal from his decision. This high-handed action of 
the Chairman struck the anti-Grant people with con- 
sternation. The Hon. Wm. P. Prye, of Maine, asked 
the Chairman where he had learned parliamentary 
law. Wm. E. Chandler announced that if the Chair- 
man would not pay any respect to the Committee, 
the same power that had made him Chairman would 
remove him. The majority of the Committee being 
opposed to Senator Cameron, appointed a committee 
of six to nominate a Temporary Chairman, and the 
Committee adjourned for a recess. During this recess 
the determined purpose of the anti-Grant men to de- 
pose Chairman Cameron was made apparent. The 
crisis had been reached, and when the Committee 
again assembled they had determined to deprive 
Cameron of his power or exact from him a promise. 



REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1880. 175 

This plan was abandoned, Senator Cameron remain- 
ing obstinate in his position, and refusing to give any 
promise that he would not enforce the unit rule, as 
the Committee had it in their power to appoint an 
acceptable Chairman. At midnight the Committee 
adjourned ; the Hon. George F. Hoar, of Massachu- 
setts, was chosen Temporary Chairman, he being ac- 
ceptable to the Grant men. For further protection, 
a resolution was adopted before adjournment that 
should Mr. Cameron be unable, through sickness or 
any other cause, to present Mr. Hoar's name to the 
Convention, Mr. Chandler, as chairman of the com- 
mittee reporting his name, should do so. Amid the 
intense excitement over these proceedings, the arbi- 
trary action of Senator Cameron was warmly dis- 
cussed by heated partisans. Eighteen of Cameron's 
own delegation from Pennsylvania, and twenty-two 
New York delegates signed protests against his arbi- 
trary ruling. 

Amid the wild excitement and bitter factional feel- 
ing over these proceedings, the Hon. Chester A. 
Arthur, of New York, and the Hon. George C. Gor- 
ham, of California, on behalf of the Grant men, sub- 
mitted a proposition that Senator Hoar should be 
accepted as Temporary Chairman of the Convention, 
and that no attempt should be made to enforce the 
unit rule, or have a test vote in the Convention, 
until the Committee on Credentials had reported, 
when the unit-rule question should be decided by the 
Convention in its own way. After a long conference 
of the anti-Grant men, this proposition was accepted 
by all parties, and it was also agreed that the regular 
delegates from Illinois and Louisiana should be ad- 
mitted to participate in the Temporar}^ Organization 



176 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



of the Convention, and then take their chances with 
the Committee on Credentials. 

The Convention met in the morning of Wednes- 
da3^ June 2, and during the afternoon session over 
ten thousand people were within Exposition Hall. As 
Senator Conkling strode down the aisle at the head 
of the Jfew York delegation, a simultaneous huzza 
burst forth from the hall and galleries, and it speedily 
broke out in a heart^^ applause. Senator Cameron 
called the Convention to order with a short address, 
and presented the name of Senator Hoar of Massa- 
chusetts as Temporary Chairman. L^pon taking his 
place as Chairman of the Convention, Senator Hoar 
made a short speech. After the election of two 
Secretaries, Eugene Hale, of Maine, moved for a call 
of States, and the naming of the several members of 
the Committees on Permanent Organization, Resolu- 
tions, Rules, and Credentials. When this was com- 
pleted. Congressman Wm. P. Fr3^e, of Maine, moved 
that Utah be represented on the Credentials Commit- 
tee, as it had been left off. Mr. Conkling objected, 
but his point of order was over-ruled, and Utah se- 
cured her representation. 

A far larger multitude filled Exposition Hall, when 
the Convention met on Thursday morning, June 3, 
and the anti-Grant people had secured a greater 
representation in the spectators' seats and a better 
location for their sympathizers. After the Conven- 
tion had been called to order and prayer offered, 
Senator Conkling moved for a recess, as the Creden- 
tials Committee were not ready to report. Eugene 
Hale, backed by the cheers of the gallery, opposed 
this motion. Mr. Conkling made a sarcastic sneer 
at Mr. Hale and New England, to which Mr. Hale 



REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1880. HI 

quickly retorted, and was loudly applauded amid a 
gale of hurrahs. Mr. Conkling's motion was lost. A 
resolution offered by James F. Jo}^, of Michigan, a 
Blaine leader, allowing the contestants from Illinois 
to be heard before the Convention by such counsel 
as they desired, raised quite a storm, was declared 
lost by a viva voce vote, and after a demand for a 
roll-call, was withdrawn at Eugene Hale's request. A 
motion of General Sewell. of Xew Jerse3\ instructing 
the Committee on Permanent Organization to report, 
was adopted. The report continued Senator Hoar as 
Permanent Chairman, and provided for a Secretary 
and Yice-President from each State. After its reading 
and correction. Senator Hoar made a short address. 
A motion by Wm. P. Frye, of Maine, requesting the 
Committee on Rules to report brought Gen'l Sharpe, 
of New York, to his feet, who said he had no time to 
bring in his minorit}^ report. At Frye 's request, 
General Garfield, the Chairman of the Committee on 
Rules, arose and was greeted with tremendous ap- 
plause. Garfield's statement that Sharpe 's motion 
was true, satisfied ever^^body, and Frye withdrew his 
motion. A sarcastic fling by Senator Conkliiig was 
answered b}' Mr. Frye. During the evening session 
a motion by Mr. Henderson, of Iowa, requesting a re- 
port from the Committee on Rules precipitated another 
clash between the opposing factions, and Senator 
Logan said that the Committee on Rules had agreed 
to wait until after the action on contested seats. 
After a discussion on this question b}^ Messrs. Logan, 
Henderson. Boutwell of Massachusetts, Harrison of 
Indiana, Clarke of Iowa, Sharpe of New York, Gar- 
field of Ohio, and Conkling, Mr. Sharpe 's amend- 
ment instructing the Credentials Committee to re- 



Its 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



port was taken b}^ yeas and nays. Senator Hoar's 
announcement allowing an Alabama delegate to 
vote ' no ' contrary to the rest of the delegation 
from that State was received with a tremendous 
shout. This was a defeat of the obnoxious unit rule, 
and other delegates voted their own convictions, 
contrary to the instructions of their State conven- 
tions. Mr. Sharpens amendment was rejected, which 
was an overwhelming defeat for the Grant forces, 
and the result was greeted with uproarious applause. 
The three hundred and sixteen yeas represented the 
strength of the Grant columns, and the four hundred 
and six na^^s the strength of the anti-Grant men. On 
motion of Mr. Brandagee, of Connecticut, Mr. Hen- 
derson's motion was then laid on the table. The 
countr}^ was aroused to intense interest by these 
proceedings. The Credentials Committee sat all night, 
and decided in favor of the anti-Grant contestants 
from Illinois, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and other 
States. 

When the Convention assembled, on Friday morn- 
ing, June 4th, Senator Conkling offered a resolution 
binding the delegates to support the nominee of the 
Convention whoever he might be, and expelling such 
as refused to agree. After a few remarks b}" Eugene 
Hale, Mr. Brandagee called for a vote of States. A 
viva voce vote recorded half a dozen na^^s. On mo- 
tion of Mr. Conkling a vote by States was taken, re- 
sulting in seven hundred and sixteen yeas and three 
nays. Mr. Conkling then offered a resolution expel- 
ling the three delegates who had voted ^'no," and who 
were from West Virginia. Mr. Campbell, of West 
Virginia, defended his position in a short speech. 
Mr. Hale, of the same State, who had voted " aj^e," 



REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1880. 179 

defended Mr. Campbell's right to vote as he pleased. 
Mr. Brandagee denied this right. Mr. McCormick, 
of West Yirginia, who had likewise voted "no," also 
defended his position. Mr. Garfield, amid great ap- 
planse,, spoke against Mr. Conkling's resolution of 
expulsion. After Mr. Pixle}^, of California, had 
moved to lay Mr. Conkling's resolution on the table, 
Mr. Conkling ordered a roll-call, but finally withdrew 
his resolution, amid applause and hisses. On motion 
of General Sewell. of New Jersey, the Committee on 
Rules reported. The rule forbidding any unit rule 
was loudly applauded. The minority report b}^ Mr. 
Sharpe was buried in the adoption of the majoritj^ 
report. Mr. Conger, of Michigan, next presented the 
report of the Credentials Committee, which admitted 
the contesting delegates from Louisiana, Alabama, 
Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Kansas. The report was 
received with applause, and was another blow at the 
high-handed tactics of the Grant leaders. Mr. dny- 
ton, of Arkansas, presented a minorit}^ report in 
faA^or of the sitting; delegates. Mr. Cono er moved to 
consider the Louisiana cases. Mr. Cessna, of Penn- 
sylvania, moved to adopt that part of the report on 
which the whole committee agreed, and then consider 
the disputed issues, and was supported by Mr. Conk- 
ling. After a livel}^ debate between Mr. Conger and 
Senator Logan, Mr. Cessna's amendment was unani- 
mously adopted. Mr. Sharpe, of New York, had 
moved to strike from the report so much as related 
to the four Illinois delegates-at-large. Mr. Ha^^mond, 
of California, opposed this, but Senator Logan sup- 
ported Mr. Sharpe 's motion, which was adopted. 

During the evening session the question of con- 
tested seats was debated, and the mention of the 



180 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



names of Grant and Blaine evoked prolonged ap- 
plause. Mr. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, offered a 
resolution substituting the minority report for the ma- 
jority report, a resolution enforcing the unit-rule. 
Mr. Conger rose to a point of order, and was sustain- 
ed hj the Chair. The Convention, by a viva voce vote, 
decided overwhelmingly against Boutwell's resolu- 
tion ; and a division being demanded, resulted in a 
vote of three hundred and six yeas to four hundred 
and forty-nine nays. This settled the unit-rule 
question, and was another decisive defeat for the 
Grant forces. The majority report was then adopted. 
A motion by Mr. Quarles, of Wisconsin, * limiting 
debate to one hour was opposed by Senator Logan. 
Mr. Haymond, of California, followed in a speech, and 
his allusion to Blaine provoked the most deafening 
cheers and shouts. Mr. Conger and Elliot Anthony 
spoke in favor of the Illinois contestants, and Mr. 
Raftm and Emer}^ Storrs, of Illinois, for the sitting 
delegates. Mr. Storrs' allusion to the names of Grant 
and Blaine were vociferousl}^ cheered b}^ their respect- 
ive supporters. Senator Conkling, waving the banner 
of the Xew York delegation, led the chorus of cheers 
for Grant; and Robert G. Ingersoll, waving a lady's 
shawl, was conspicuous in leading the cheering for 
Blaine, which lasted many minutes. A lady in com- 
pany with Marshall Jewell, of Connecticut, waved 
two flags and repeatedly' shouted "Hurrah for 
Blaine!'' For half an hour this uproar continued, 
the enthusi asm of the Blaine people knowing no 
bounds. 

Exposition Hall was again packed on Saturday, 
June 5, the fourth day of the Convention. When the 
ten thousand people had got seated, Senator Conkling 



REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1880. 181 

strode down the centre aisle and was received with a 
thundering salute of applause. 

After the Convention had been called to order, the 
Kansas case was settled in favor of the four Grant 
contestants, and the Illinois case in favor of the anti- 
Grant contestants, by a vote of four hundred and 
seventj^-six to one hundred and eighty-four. The 
Sherman contestants from West Yirginia were ad- 
mitted b}^ a vote of four hundred and seventeen to 
three hundred and twelve ; and the Utah contestants 
by a vote of four hundred and twentj^-six to three 
hundred and twelve. Mr. Garfield moved the adop- 
tion of the majority report, whereupon Mr. Sharpe 
moved to strike out the rule allowing delegates to vote 
contraiy to the instructions of their respective State 
Conventions ; and offered a resolution in favor of pro- 
ceeding to ballot for a candidate for President. Mr. 
Garfield raised a point of order that the report of the 
Committee on Rules was before the Convention, and 
the Chair ruled Mr. Sharpe 's motion out of order. A 
vote by a call of States was ordered, and Mr. Sharpe 
modified his resolution, which was still opposed by 
Mr. Garfield, and a dicussion on the rules followed 
between Messrs Fiye, Garfield and Conkling. 

Mr. Sharpens resolution was lost b}^ a viva voce vote, 
and afterwards b}^ a call of States, which resulted in 
two hundred and seventy-six ^^eas to four hundred 
and seventy-nine nays. This result was hailed with 
great applause ! Mr. Sharpe's motion to substitute 
the majority report was rejected. Amendments of 
the majority report concerning district representation 
in the next National Convention, offered b}^ Mr. Bout- 
well, of Massachusetts, and Mr. Butterworth, of Ohio, 
were adopted by the Convention, which then adopted 
13 



182 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



the rules as a whole. On motion of Mr. Garfield the 
Committee on Resolutions then reported, and the Re- 
publican platform of 1880 was then read. A civil- 
service resolution offered b}^ Mr. Barker, of Penn- 
sjdvania, precipitated a debate upon that question, 
after which his resolution was adopted. 

During the evening session, the spectators were 
full of enthusiasm. On motion of Eugene Hale, the 
roll of States was called for the announcement of the 
names of members of the Republican i^ational Com- 
mittee. Mr. Hale next moved a call of States to 
name candidates for President. James F. Joy. of 
Michigan, nominated Blaine in a speech, which was 
vociferously applauded. Mr. Pixle}^, of California, 
seconded Blaine's nomination in a lengthy speech. 
Senator Conkling nominated General Grant in a very 
impressive speech, which was cheered for full twenty 
minutes at its close. Mr. Bradley", of Kentucky, 
seconded Grant's nomination. 

Mr. Garfield, of Ohio, nominated John Sherman, 
in a very able speech, and this nomination was sec- 
onded b}" Mr. Winkler, of Wisconsin, and Mr. Eliott, 
(colored,) of South Carolina. Mr. Billings, of Yer- 
men, nominated Senator Edmunds, and this nomina- 
tion was seconded b}^ Mr. Sanford, of Massachusetts. 
Mr. Cassidy, of Wisconsin, nominated Elihu B. 
Washburne, of Illinois, and this nomination was sec- 
onded by Mr. Brandagee, of Connecticut. The Con- 
vention then adjourned over Sunda^^, having been in 
session four continuous da^^s. 

On Sunday, June 6, 1880, at Chicago, the poli- 
ticians were as busy as ever. The day was passed in 
marches and counter-marches, combinations, plots, 
arguments, speeches, dining and wining, rest for some 



BEPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1880. 183 



and church for a few. Every nerve was strained to 
correct badl3-constructed lines, to strengthen waver- 
ing delegates, and to capture new ones, and to repair 
every weak spot in the chain of defenses. 

On Monday, Jane T, Chicago was all astir, and 
vast crowds filled the halls, corridors, breakfast-rooms 
and street-corners. Exposition Hall was soon jam- 
med with over ten thousand human beings. The 
various State delegations entered in the proper order. 
Senator Conkling was again vociferously applauded 
as he entered the hall and strode down the aisle. 
General Garfield was also ro3'ally welcomed when he 
entered. After Chairman Hoar had called the Con- 
vention to order, and after prayer, Eugene Hale, of 
Maine, moved that the Convention proceed to ballot 
for a candidate for President, and Senator Conkling 
seconded the motion. Eighteen ballots were taken 
during this session without an}' decisive result, 
During these eighteen ballots Grant's line stood firm, 
his vote ranging from three hundred and three to 
three hundred and nine; Blaine's friends also stood 
nobly by their favorite, with votes ranging between 
two hundred and eight}' and two hundred and eight}'- 
five; Sherman's adherents on the various ballots 
numbered from eighty-eight to ninety-five; Wash- 
burne's supporters mustered from thirty to thirty-six 
votes ; Edmunds had between thirt3'-one and thirt}'- 
four votes on the difi'erent ballots; Windom had ten 
votes on each ballot. James A. Garfield, of Ohio, 
himself a delegate heading the Sherman delegation, 
had one and two votes between the second and thir- 
teenth ballots inclusive. President Hayes had one 
vote on the tenth, eleventh and twelfth ballots. Gen- 
eral Benjamin H. Harrison, of Indiana, grandson of 



1 



184 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



President Harrison, had one vote on the second ballot ; 
Hon. Geo. W. McCrary , of Iowa, one vote on the thir- 
teenth ballot; and Edmund J. Davis, of Texas, one 
vote on the seventeenth ballot. 

During the ten ballots taken on Monday evening, 
June Grant's vote ranged from three hundred and 
two to three hundred and seven; Blaine's from two 
hundred and sevent^^-five to two hundred and eighty- 
one ; Sherman's from ninty-one to ninty-seven ; Wash- 
burne's from thirtj^-two to thirty-six; Edmunds had 
thirty-one on each ballot, and Windom had ten on 
each ballot; while Garfield had one and two votes 
on the different ballots, and John P. Hartranft, of 
Penns34vania, had one vote on the first four ballots 
of the evening session. 

During the eight ballots of Tuesday, June 8th, 
Grant's columns stood as firmly by their candidate as 
ever, his vote ranging from three hundred and five to 
three hundred and thirteen. Blaine's adherents mus- 
tered from two hundred and sevent}^ to two hundred 
and seventy -nine votes on the first six ballots of the 
day, but on the seventh ballot this vote fell to two 
hundred and fifty-seven, and on the last ballot to 
fort3-two, most of his friends having stampeded to 
Garfield. Sherman's vote stood between ninety-nine 
and one hundred and twenty on every ballot but the 
last, when it fell as low as three. Washburne mus- 
tered from twenty-three to forty-four votes on every 
ballot but the last, when he only had five. Edmunds 
had twelve votes on the first ballot of the day, eleven 
on the next six, and none on the last. Windom had 
from three to seven on all the ballots of the day but 
the last, when he also had none. Garfield had one 
and two votes on the first five ballots of the day, sev- 



REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1880. 185 

enteen and fifty respectively on the next two ballots, 
and three hundred and ninety-nine on the last ballot. 
Most of the supporters of Blaine, Sherman, Wash- 
burne, Edmunds and Windom had gone over to Gar- 
field, thus giving him a majority of the Convention 
on the thirty-sixth and last ballot, and making him 
the nominee of the Republican party for President 
in 1880. The Grant Third-Term movement had ut- 
terly failed. The Blaine delegates, finding it impos- 
sible to nominate their candidate, had wheeled into 
line for Garfield as the only effective wa^^ of beating 
Grant. The result was greeted with tremendous ap- 
plause ; the vast crowd sang The Battle Cry of 
Freedom," which the band was playing, while cannon 
were booming outside. Upon the announcement of 
Garfield's nomination, the vast crowd stood upon 
benches and hurrahed and yelled. Then Senator 
Conkling in a short speech moved that the nomina- 
tion be made unanimous. Senator Logan then fol- 
lowed with a little address seconding the motion, as 
did also General James A. Beaver, of Pennsylvania. 
Eugene Hale then spoke on behalf of the Blaine men. 
Garfield's nomination was then made unanimous, 
amid the wildest excitement. During a short evening- 
session on that day, Tuesda}^, June 8th, 1880, Chester 
A. Arthur, of New York, was nominated for Yice- 
President, after which the Convention adjourned sine 
die, after one of the most gigantic political struggles 
ever recorded. Mr. Blaine had not received the nomi- 
nation, but he had been the means of defeating the 
Third-Term movement, so hostile to all the traditions 
of the Republic. 

The following is a list of the thirty-six ballots, taken 



186 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



during the two days — Monday, June 7th, 1880, and 
Tuesday, June 8th, 1880. 



o 



c3 



BALLOTS. 


Grant. 


]>laine. ' 


Sherman. 


Wasliburne. 


Edmunds. 


Windom. 


Garfield. 




Harrison. 




Davis, Tex. 


Hartranft. 


f 1st 


304 


284 


93 


30 


34 


10 














2d 


305 


282 


94 


31 


32 


10 


1 












3d 


305 


282 


93 


31 


32 


10 


1 




1 








4th 


305 


281 


95 


31 


32 


10 


1 












5th 


305 


281 


95 


31 


32 


10 


1 












6th 


305 


280 


95 


31 


32 


10 


2 
















281 


94 


31 


32 


10 


9 












8th 


306 


284 


91 


32 


31 


10 


1 












9th 


308 


282 


90 


32 


31 


10 


9 












^ 10th 


305 282 


92 


33 


31 


10 


1 


1 










11th 


305 281 


93 


32 


31 


10 


9 


1 










12 th 


304 283 


92 


33 


31 


10 


1 


1 










13th 


305 285 


89 


33 


31 


10 


1 






1 






14th 


305 


285 


89 


35 


31 


10 














15th 


309 281 


88 


36 


31 


10 














16th 


306 283 


88 


36 


31 


10 














17th 


303 284 


90 


36 


31 


10 














I 18th 


305 283 


91 


35 


31 


10 














r IQfh 


305 279 


96 


32 


31 


10 












\ 


20th 


308 276 


93 


35 


31 


10 


1 

X 










\ 


21st 


305 276 


96 


35 


31 


10 


1 










1 


22d 


305 275 


97 


35 


31 


10 


1 










1 


23d 


304 275 


97 


36 


31 


10 


2 












' 24th 


305 279 


93 


35 


31 


10 


2 












25th 


302 281 


94 


35 


31 


10 


2 












26th 


303 280 


93 


36 


31 


10 


2 












27th 


306 277 


93 


36 


31 


10 


2 












L 28th 


307 279 


91 


35 


31 


10 


2 












r 29th 


305 278 


116 


35 


12 


7 


2 












30th 


306 279 


120 


33 


11 


4 


2 












31st 


308 276 


118 


37 


11 


3 


1 












32d 


309 270 


117 


44 


11 


3 


1 












1 33d 


309 276 


110 


44 


11 


4 


1 












34th 


312 275 


107 


30 


11 


4 


17 












35th 


313 257 


99 


23 


11 


3 


50 












t 36th 


306 


42 


3 


5 






399 













SECRETARY OF STATE. 



187 



SECRETARY OF STATE. 

The campaign of 1880 resulted in the triumphant 
election of Garfield, and upon his inauguration, March 
4, 1881, Senator Blaine was appointed his Secretarj^ 
of State. He at once distinguished himself by the 
vigor and earnestness with which he upheld American 
interests. He was the chosen adviser and confidential 
political and personal friend of President Garfield, 
whom he upheld in the bitter factional fight which 
soon disturbed the triumphant Republican part}'. 

When President Garfield appointed William H. 
Robertson — the political rival of Senator Conkling in 
New York State — Collector of the port of New York, 
that Senator bitterlj' opposed the President's appoint- 
ment in that instance, as he believed it was inspired 
by Senator Blaine. After considerable deliberation 
the United State Senate confirmed the appoint- 
ments ; and the two United States Senators from 
New York — Roscoe Conkling and Thomas C. Piatt 
— resigned their seats in the Senate, and appealed to 
the Legislature of their State to sustain them in their 
opposition to President Garfield, b}^ re-electing them 
to the seats which they had resigned ; but after a bit- 
ter contest of two months, the New York Legislature 
sustained the President's course b}^ defeating Messrs. 
Conkling and Piatt, and electing Messrs. Miller and 
Lapham in their places. 

In this struggle with Senator Conkling, President 
Garfield was sustained by the great mass of the Re- 
publican partj' throughout the countr3\ 

On the morning of July 2, 1881, President Gar- 
field was shot in the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad 
Depot, in Washington, as he was about to take the 



188 JAMES G. BLAINE. 

train, on his way to Williams College, where his son 
was taking his educational course. Secretary Blaine 
was walking with the President when the latter was 
shot. The assassin Guiteau was speedily arrested and 
taken to the Disirict jail, narrowly escaping lynching 
by a mob. 

Through all the period of eighty da3^s of suffering 
of the President, Secretary Blaine, the master-spirit 
of the President's Cabinet, was virtually acting Presi- 
dent; and after Garfield's death, and Vice-President 
Arthur's inauguration as President, Mr. Blaine re- 
mained in office for several months, but as he and the 
new President differed on matters of public policy, 
one point of which was Mr. Blaine's foreign policy, 
the Secretary retired from office late in the Fall of 
1881. Mr. Blaine's vigorous foreign policy — his de- 
mand for a modification, by Great Britain, of the 
Clayton-Bulwer Treat}^ ; his opposition to the course 
of Chili in her victorious struggle with Peru; and 
his project for a Congress of all the American Re- 
publics to settle disputes — was not approved by Presi- 
dent Arthur. Some time after his resignation Mr. 
Blaine wrote a long letter to the President concerning 
this foreign polic}^ 

MR. BLAINE'S GREAT ORATION ON GARFIELD. 

On February 21, 1882, Mr. Blaine delivered the fol- 
lowing oration on the late President Garfield, before 
both Houses of Congress and a vast multitude of 
people, in the Hall of the House of Representatives, 
in Washington : 

Mr. President: For the second time in this gener- 
ation, the great Departments of the Government of the 
United States are assembled in the Hall of Represen- 



ORATION ON GARFIELD. 



189 



tatives, to do honor to the memory of a murdered 
President. Lincoln fell at the close of a mighty 
struggle in which the passions of men had been deeply 
stirred. The tragical termination of his great life 
added but another to the lengthened succession of 
horrors which had marked so many lintels with the 
blood of the first-born. Garfield was slain in a day of 
peace, when brother had been reconciled to brother, 
and when anger and hate had b^n banished from the 
land. ''Whoever shall hereafter draw the portrait of 
murder, if he will show it as it has been exhibited 
where such example was last to have been looked for, 
let him not give it the grim visage of Moloch, the 
brow knitted by revenge, the face black with settled 
hate. Let him draw, rather, a decorous, smooth-faced, 
bloodless demon ; not so much an example of human 
nature in its depravit}^ and in its paroxysms of crime, 
as an infernal being, a fiend in the ordinary displa^^ 
and development of his character.'' 

From the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth till 
the uprising against Charles First, about twenty thou- 
sand emio-rants came from Old Eno^land to Xew Enor- 
land. As they came in pursuit of intellectual free- 
dom and ecclesiastical independence rather than for 
worldly honor and profit, the emigration naturall}^ 
ceased when the contest for religious liberty began in 
earnest at home. The man who struck his most efi"ec- 
tive blow for freedom of conscience, by sailing for the 
colonies in 1620, would have been accounted a deserter 
to leave after 1640. The opportunity had then come 
on the soil of England for that great contest which es- 
tablished the authority of Parliament, gave religious 
freedom to the people, sent Charles to the block, and 
committed to the hands of Oliver Cromwell the su- 



190 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



preme executive authority of England. The English 
emigration was never renewed, and from these twenty 
thousand men, with a small emigration from Scotland 
and from France, are descended the vast numbers 
who have New England blood in their veins. 

In 1685 the revocation of the Edict of Nantes hj 
Louis XIY scattered to other countries four hundred 
thousand Protestants, who were among the most in- 
telligent and enterprising of French subjects — mer- 
chants of capital, skilled manufacturers, and handi- 
craftsmen, superior at the time to all others in EuropCw 
A considerable number of these Huguenot French 
came to America ; a few landed in New England and 
became honorably prominent in its historj^ Their 
names have in large part become Anglicised, or have 
disappeared, but their blood is traceable in many of 
the most reputable families, and their fame is perpet- 
uated in honorable memorials and useful institutions. 

From these two sources, the English-Puritan and 
the French-Huguenot, came the late President — his 
father, Abram Garfield, being descended from the one, 
and his mother, Eliza Ballon, from the other. 

It was good stock on both sides — none better, none 
braver, none truer. There was in it an inheritance of 
courage, of manliness, of imperishable love of liberty, 
of undying adherence to principle. Garfield was 
proud of his blood ; and, with as much satisfaction as 
if he were a British nobleman reading his stately an- 
cestral record in Burke's Peerage, he spoke of himself 
as ninth in descent from those who would not endure 
the oppression of the Stuarts, and seventh in descent 
from the brave French Protestants who refused to 
submit to tyranny even from the Grand Monarque. 

Gen'l Garfield delighted to dwell on these traits, 



ORATION ON GARFIELD. 



191 



and, during his only visit to England, he busied him- 
self in discovering every trace of his forefathers in 
parish registries and on ancient army rolls. Sitting 
with a friend, in the gallery of the House of Com- 
mons one night, after a long day's labor in this field 
of research, he said, with evident elation, that in eveiy 
war, in which, for three centuries, patriots of English 
blood had struck sturdy blows for constitutional 
government and human liber t}^, his famil}^ had been 
represented. They were at Marston Moor, at Naseby, 
and at Preston ; they were at Bunker Hill, at Sara- 
toga, and at Monmouth, and in his own person had 
battled for the same great cause in the war which 
preserved the Union of the States. 

Losing his father before he was two years old, the 
early life of Garfield was one of privation, but its 
poverty has been made indelicately and unjustly 
prominent. Thousands of readers have imagined him 
as the ragged, starving child, whose reality too often 
greets the eye in the squalid sections of our large 
cities. General Garfield's infanc}^ and youth had 
none of their destitution, none of their pitiful features 
appealing to the tender heart and to the open hand of 
charity. He was a poor boy in the same sense in 
which Henry Clay was a poor boy ; in which Andrew 
Jackson was a poor bo}^ ; in which Daniel Webster 
was a poor boy ; in the sense in* which a large major- 
ity of the eminent men of America in all generations 
have been poor boys. Before a great multitude of 
men, in a public speech, Mr. Webster bore this testi- 
mony : 

''It did not happen to me to be born in a log cabin, 
but my elder brothers . and sisters were born in a log 
cabin raised amid the snow-drifts of New Hampshire, 



192 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



at a period so early that, when the smoke rose first 
from its rude chimney and curled over the frozen 
hills, there was no similar evidence of a white man's 
habitation between it and the settlements on the 
rivers of Canada. Its remains still exist. I make to 
it an annual visit. I carry my children to it to teach 
them the hardships endured by the generations which 
have gone before them. I love to dwell on the tender 
recollections, the kindred ties, the early affections, 
and the touching narratives and incidents which 
mingle with all I know of this primitive family 
abode." 

With the requisite change of scene the same words 
would aptl}^ portray the early days of Garfield. The 
poverty of the frontier, where all are engaged in a 
common struggle, and where a common sympathy and 
hearty co-operation lighten the burdens of each, is a 
ver}' different povert}^, different in kind, different in 
influence and effect from that conscious and humilia- 
ting indigence which is every da}' forced to contrast 
it«elf with neicrhboring wealth, on which it feels a 
sense of grindins: dependence. The poverty of the 
frontier is indeed no povertj^ It is but the beginning 
of wealth, and has the boundless possibilities of the 
future always opening before it. No man ever grew 
up in the agricultural regions of the West where a 
house-raising, or even a corn-husking, is matter of 
common interest and helpfulness, with any other feel- 
ing than that of broad-minded, generous independ- 
ence. This honorable independence marked the 
youth of Garfield, as it marks the youth of millions 
of the best blood and brain now training for the fu- 
ture citizenship and future government of the Re- 
public. Garfield was born heir to land, to the title of 



ORATION ON GARFIELD. 



193 



freeholder, which has been the patent and passport of 
self-respect with the Anglo-Saxon race ever since 
Hengist and Horsa landed on the shores of England. 
His adventure on the canal — an alternative between 
that and the deck of a Lake Erie schooner — was a 
farmer boy's device for earning money, just as the 
New England lad begins a possibl}^ great career by 
sailing before the mast on a coasting vessel, or on a 
merchantman bound to the Farther India or to the 
China Seas. 

No manly man feels anything of shame in looking 
back to early struggles with adverse circumstances, 
and no man feels a worthier pride than when he has 
conquered the obstacles to his progress. But no one 
of noble mould desires to be looked upon as having 
occupied a menial position, as having been re- 
pressed by a feeling of inferiority, or as having 
suffered the evils of poverty uutil relief was found at 
the hand of charity. General Garfield's youth pre- ^ 
sented no hardships which family love and family en- 
ergy did not overcome, subjected him to no priva- 
tions which he did not cheerfully accept, and left no 
memories save those which were recalled with delight, 
and transmitted with profit and with pride. 

Garfield's early opportunities for securing an edu- 
cation were extremely limited, and 3^et were sufficient 
to develop in him an intense desire to learn. He 
could read at three years of age, and each winter he 
had the benefit of the district school. He read all 
the books to be found within the circle of his ac- 
quaintance ; some of them he got by heart. While 
yet in childhood he was a constant student of the 
Bible, and became familiar with its literature. The 
dignity and earnestness of his speech in his maturer 



194 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



life gave evidence of this early training. At eighteen 
years of age he was able to teach school, and thence- 
forward his ambition was to obtain a college educa- 
tion. To this end he bent all his efforts, working in 
the harvest field, at the carpenter's bench, and. in the 
winter season, teaching the common schools of the 
neighborhood. While thus laboriously occupied he 
found time to prosecute his studies, and was so suc- 
cessful that at twenty-two years of age he was able to 
enter the junior class of Williams College, then under 
the pres'.dency of the venerable and honored Mark 
Hopkins, who in the fullness of his powers, survives 
the eminent pupil to whom he was of inestimable 
service. 

The history of Garfield's life to this period presents 
no novel features. He had undoubtedly shown per- 
severience. self-reliance, self-sacrifice and ambition — 
qualities which, be it said for the honor of our coun- 
^tr}^, are everywhere to be found among the young men 
of America. But from his graduation at Williams 
onward, to the hour of his tragical death. Garfield's 
career was eminent and exceptional. Slowly working 
through his educational period, receiving his diploma 
when twenty-four ^^ears of age, he seemed at one 
bound to spring into conspicuous and brilliant success. 
Within six 3'ears he was successively President of a 
College, State Senator of Ohio, Major-General of the 
Army of the United States, and Representative-elect 
to the National Congress. A combination of honors 
so varied, so elevated, within a period so brief and to 
a man so young, is without precedent or parallel in 
the history of the country. 

Garfield's army life was begun with no other mili- 
tary knowledge than such as he had hastily gained 



ORATION OX GARFIELD. 



195 



from books in the few months preceding his march to 
the field. Stepping from civil life to the head of a 
regiment, the first order he received when read}' to 
cross the Ohio was to assume command of a brigade, 
and to operate as an independent force in Eastern 
Kentucky. His immediate duty was to check the ad- 
vance of Humphrey Marshall, who was marching 
down the Big Sandy, with the intention of occupying, 
in connection with other Confederate forces, the entire 
territory of Kentucky, and of precipitating the State 
into Secession. This was at the close of the year 18G1. 
Seldom, if ever, has a young college professor been 
thrown into a more embarrassing and discouraging 
position. He knew just enough of military science, 
as he expressed it himself, to measure the extent of 
his ignorance, and with a handful of men he was 
marching, in rough winter weather, ' into a strange 
country, among a hostile population, to confront a 
largely superior force under the command of a distin- 
guished graduate of West Point, who had seen active 
and important service in two preceding wars. 

The result of the campaign is matter of history. 
The skill, the endurance, the extraordinary energy 
shown by Garfield; the courage he imparted to his 
men, raw and untried as himself; the measures he 
adopted to increase his force and to create in the en- 
emy's mind exaggerated estimates of his numbers, 
bore perfect fruit in the routing of Marshall, the cap- 
ture of his camp, the dispersion of his force, and the 
emancipation of an important territory from the con- 
trol of the Rebellion. Coming at the close of a long 
series of disasters to the Union arms, Garfield's vic- 
tory had an unusual and extraneous importance, and 
in the popular judgment elevated the 3'oung com- 



196 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



mander to the rank of a military hero. With less 
than two thousand men in his entire command, with a 
mobolized force of only eleven hundred, without can- 
non, he had met an army of five thousand and de- 
feated them — driving Marshall's forces successively 
from two strongholds of their own selection, fortified 
with abundant artillery. Major-General Buell, com- 
manding the Department of the Ohio, an experienced 
and able soldier of the regular army, published an 
order of thanks and congratulation on the brilliant 
result of the Big Sandy campaign, which would have 
turned the head of a less cool and sensible man than 
Garfield. Buell declared that his services had called 
into action the highest qualities of a soldier, and 
President Lincoln supplemented these words of praise 
by the more substantial reward of a Brigadier-Gen- 
eral's commission, to bear date from the day of his 
decisive victory over Marshall. 

The subsequent military career of Garfield fully 
sustained its brilliant beginning. With his new com- 
mission he was assigned to the command of a .brigade 
in the Army of the Ohio, and took part in the second 
and decisive daj^'s fight in the great battle of Shiloh. 
The remainder of the year 1862 was not especially 
eventful to Garfield, as it was not to the armies with 
which he was serving. His practical sense was called 
into exercise in completing the task, assigned him by 
General Buell, of reconstructing bridges and re-estab- 
lishing lines of railway communication for the Army. 
His occupation in this useful, but not brilliant, field 
was varied by service on courts-martial of importance^ 
in which department of duty he won a valuable repu- 
tation, attracting the notice and securing the approval 
of the able and eminent Judge- Advocate-General of 



ORATION ON GARFIELD. 



19Y 



the Army. That of itself was warrant to honorable 
fame ; for, among the great men who in those trjdng 
days gave themselves with entire devotion to the ser- 
vice of their country, one who brought to that service 
the ripest learning, the most fervid eloquence, the most 
varied attainments, who labored with modesty, and 
shunned applause, w^ho in the day of triumph sat re- 
served, and silent, and grateful — as Francis Deak in 
the hour of Hungary's deliverance — was Joseph Holt 
of Kentucky, who in his honorable retirement enjoys 
the respect and veneration of all who love the Union 
of the States. 

Early in 1863 Garfield was assigned to the highly 
important and responsible post of Chief-of-Staff to 
General Rosecrans, then at the head of the Arm}^ of 
the Cumberland. Perhaps in a great military cam- 
paign no subordinate officer requires sounder judg- 
ment and quicker knowledge of men than the Chief- 
of-Staff to the Commanding General. An indiscreet 
man in such a position can sow more discord, breed 
more jealousy and disseminate more strife than any 
other officer in the entire organization. When Gen'l 
Garfield assumed his new duties he found various 
troubles already well developed and seriously affect- 
ing the value and efficiency of the Army of the Cum- 
berland. The energy, the impartiality, and the tact 
with which he sought to allay these dissensions, and 
to discharge the duties of his new and trying position, 
will always remain one of the most striking proofs of 
his great versatility. His military duties closed on 
the memorable field of Chickamauga, a field which, 
however disastrous to the Union arms, gave to him 
the occasion of winning imperishable laurels. The 
very rare distinction was accorded him of a great pro- 
14 



198 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



motion for his bravery on a field that was lost. Pres- 
ident Lincoln appointed him a Major-General in the 
Army of the United States for gallant and merito- 
rious conduct in the battle of Chickamauga. 

The Army of the Cumberland was re-organized un- 
der the command of General Thomas, who promptly 
offered Garfield one of its divisions. He was ex- 
tremely desirous to accept the position, but was em- 
barrassed by the fact that he had, a 3^ear before, been 
elected to Congress, and the time when he must take 
his seat was drawing near. He preferred to remain in 
the military service, and had within his own breast the 
largest confidence of success in the wider field which 
his new rank opened to him. Balancing the argu- 
ments on the one side and the other, anxious to 
determine what was for the best, desirous above all 
things to do his patriotic duty, he was decisively in- 
fluenced by the advice of President Lincoln and 
Secretary Stanton, both of whom assured him that he 
could, at that time, be of especial value in the House 
of Representatives. He resigned his commission of 
Major-General on the 5th day of December, 1863, and 
took his seat in the House of Representatives on the 
tth. He had served two years and four months in 
the Army, and had just completed his thirty-second 
year. 

The Thirty-eighth Congress is pre-eminently en- 
titled in history to the designation of the War Con- 
gress. It was elected while the war was flagrant, 
and every member was chosen upon the issues in- 
volved in the continuance of the struggle. The 
Thirty-seventh Congress had indeed legislated to a 
large extent on war measures, but it was chosen be- 
fore any one believed that the secession of the States 



ORATION ON GARFIELD. 



199 



would be actually attempted. The magnitude of the 
work which fell upon its successor was unprecedented, 
both in respect to the vast sums of money raised for 
the support of the Army and Xavy, and of the new 
and extraordinary powers of legislation which it was 
forced to exercise. Only twenty-four States were rep- 
resented, and one hundred and eighty-two members 
were upon its roll. Among these were man}' dis- 
tinguished part}' leaders on both sides, veterans in 
the public service, with established reputations for 
ability, and with that skill which comes only from 
parliamentary experience. Into this assemblage of 
men Garfield entered without special preparation, 
and it might almost be said unexpectedly. The ques- 
tion of taking command of a division of troops under 
General Thomas, or taking his seat in Congress, was 
kept open till the last moment — so late, indeed, that 
the resignation of his military commission and his ap- 
pearance in the House were almost contemporaneous. 
He wore the uniform of a Major-General of the United 
States Army on Saturday, and on Monday, in civil- 
ian's dress, he answered to the roll-call as a Repre- 
sentative in Congress from the State of Ohio. 

He was especially fortunate in the constitutency 
which elected him. Descended almost entirely from 
New England stock, the men of the Ashtabula dis- 
trict were intensely radical on all questions relating 
to human rights. Well educated, thrifty, thoroughly 
intelligent in affairs, acutely discerning of character, 
not quick to bestow confidence, and slow to with- 
draw it, they were at once the most helpful and most 
exacting of supporters. Their tenacious trust in 
men in whom they have once confided, is illustrated by 
the unparalleled fact that Elisha Whittlesey, Joshua 



200 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



R. Giddings, and James A. GtArfield represented the 
district for fifty-four years. 

There is no test of a man's ability in any depart- 
ment of public life more severe than service in the 
House of Representatives; there is noplace where so 
little deference is paid to reputation previously ac- 
quired, or to eminence won outside ; no place where 
so little consideration is shown for the feelings or the 
failures of beginners. What a man gains in the 
House, he gains by sheer force of his own character, 
and if he loses and falls back he must expect no 
mercy, and will receive no sympathy. It is a field in 
which the survival of the strongest is the recognized 
rule, and where no pretense can deceive and no glam- 
our can mislead. The real man is discovered, his 
worth is impartially- weighed, his rank is irreversibly 
decreed. 

With possibly a single exception Garfield was the 
3"oungest member in the House when he entered, and 
was but seven y-ears from his college graduation. 
But he had not been in his seat sixty days before his 
ability was recognized and his place conceded. He 
stepped to the front with the confidence of one who 
belonged there. The House was crowded with strong 
men of both parties ; nineteen of them have since 
been transferred to the Senate, and many of them 
have served with distinction in the gubernatorial 
chairs of their respective States, and on foreign mis- 
sions of great consequence ; but among them all none 
grew so rapidl}^, none so firmly as Garfield. As is 
said by Trevely^an of his parliamentary hero, Garfield 
succeeded "because all the world in concert could not 
have kept him in the background ; and because, when 
once in the front, he played his part with a prompt in- 



ORATION ON GARFIELD. 



201 



trepidity and a commanding ease that were but the 
outward symptoms of the immense reserves of energy, 
on which it was in his power to draw." Indeed the 
apparently reserved force which Garfield possessed 
was one of his great characteristics. He never did so 
well but that it seemed he could easily have done bet- 
ter. He never expended so much strength but that he 
seemed to be holding additional power at call. This 
is one of the happiest and rarest distinctions of an 
effective debater, and often counts for as much in per- 
suading an assembly as the eloquent and elaborate 
argument. 

The great measure of Garfield's fame was filled 
by his service in the House of Representatives. His 
military life, illustrated by honorable performance, 
and rich in promise was, as he himself felt, prema- 
turely terminated, and necessarily incomx^lete. Spe- 
culation as to what he might have done in a field, 
where the great prizes are so few, cannot be profit- 
able. It is sufficient to say that as a soldier he did 
his duty bravely ; he did it intelligently ; he won an 
enviable fame, and he retired from the service with- 
out blot or breath against him. As a lawyer, though 
admirably equipped for the profession, he can scarcely 
be said to have entered on its practice. The few efibrts 
he made at the bar, were distinguished by the same 
high order of talent which he exhibited on every field 
where he was put to the test, and if a man may be 
accepted as a competent judge of his own capacities 
and adaptations, the law was the profession to which 
Garfield should have devoted himself. But fate 
ordained otherwise, and his reputation in historj^ 
will rest largely upon his service in the House of 
Representatives. That service was exceptionally 



202 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



long. He was nine times consecutively chosen to 
the House, an honor enjoyed by not more than six 
other Representatives of the more than five thousand 
who have been elected from the organization of the 
Government to this hour. 

As a 23arliamentary orator, as a debater on an issue 
squarely joined, where the position had been chosen 
and the ground laid out, Garfield must be assigned 
a ver}^ high rank. More, perhaps, than any man with 
whom he was associated in public life, he gave care- 
ful and s^^stematic stud}^ to public questions, and he 
came to every discussion in which he took part with 
elaborate and complete preparation. He was a steady 
and indefatigable worker. Those who imagine that 
talent or genius can suppl}^ the place, or achieve the 
results of labor, will find no encouragement in Gar- 
field's life. In preliminary work he was apt, rapid, 
and skillful. He possessed in a high degree the power 
of readily absorbing ideas and facts, and like Dr. 
Johnson, had the art of getting from a book all that 
was of value in it by a reading, apparently so quick 
and cursory, that it seemed like a mere glance at the 
table of contents. He was a pre-eminentty fair and 
candid man in debate,took no petty advantage, stooped 
to no unworthy methods, avoided personal allusions, 
rarely appealed to prejudice, did not seek to inflame 
passion. He had a quicker e3^e for the strong point 
of his adversaiy than for his weak point, and on his 
own side he so marshaled his weighty arguments as 
to make his hearers forget any possible lack in the 
complete strength of his position. He had a habit of 
stating his opponent's side with such amplitude of 
fairness and such liberalit}^ of concession that his fol- 
lowers often complained that he was giving his case 



ORATION ON GARFIELD. 



203 



away. But never in his prolonged participation in 
the proceedings of the House did he give his case 
awa}^, or fail in the judgment of competent and im- 
partial listeners to gain the mastery. 

These characteristics, which marked Garfield as a 
great debater, did not, however, make him a great 
parliamentary leader. A parliamentary leader, as 
that term is understood wherever free representative 
government exists, is necessarily and very strictly 
the organ of his party. An ardent American defined 
the instinctive warmth of patriotism when he offered 
the toast, Our country, always right ; but right or 
wrong, our country." The parliamentary leader who 
has a body of followers that will do and dare and die 
for the cause, is one who believes his party always 
right, but right or wrong, is for his party. 'No more 
important or exacting duty devolves upon him than 
the selection of the field and the time for contest. He 
must know not merel}^ how to strike, but where to 
strike, and when to strike. He often skillfully avoids 
the strength of his opponent's position, and scatters 
confusion in his ranks by attacking an exposed point, 
when really the righteousness of the cause and the 
strength of logical intrenchment are against him. He 
conquers often both against the right and the heavy 
battalions, as when 3^oung Charles Fox, in the da3^s 
of his Toryism, carried the House of Commons 
against justice, against its immemorial rights, against 
his own convictions, if, indeed, at that period Fox 
had convictions, and, in the interest of a corrupt ad- 
ministration, in obedience to a tyrannical sovereign, 
drove Wilkes from the seat to which the electors of 
Middlesex had chosen him and installed Luttrell in 
defiance, not merely of law but of public decenc3\ 



204 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



For an achievement of that kind Garfield was dis- 
qualified — disqualified by the texture of his mind, by 
the honesty of his heart, by his conscience, and b}^ 
every instinct and aspiration of his nature. 

The three most distinguished parliamentary leaders 
hitherto developed in this country are Mr. Clay, Mr. 
Douglas, and Mr. Thaddeus Stevens. Each was a 
man of consummate ability, of great earnestness, of 
intense personality, differing widely, each from the 
others, and yet with a signal trait in common — the 
power to command. In the give and take of daily 
discussion, in the art of controlling and consolidat- 
ing reluctant and refractory followers ; in the skill to 
overcome all forms of opposition, and to meet with 
competency and courage the varying phases of un- 
looked-for assault or unsuspected defection, it would 
be difficult to rank with these a fourth name in all our 
Congressional history. But of these Mr. Clay was 
the greatest. It would perhaps be impossible to find 
in the parliamentary annals of the world a parallel to 
Mr. Clay, in 1841, when at sixty-four years of age he 
took the control of the Whig party from the President 
who had received their sufi'rages, against the power 
of Webster in the Cabinet, against the eloquence of 
Choate in the Senate, against the Herculean efi'orts of 
Caleb Cushing and Henry A. Wise in the House. In 
unshared leadership, in the pride and plenitude of 
power, he hurled against John Tyler with deepest 
scorn the mass of that conquering column which had 
swept over the land in 1840, and drove his Adminis- 
tration to seek shelter T)ehind the lines of his political 
foes. Mr. Douglas achieved a victory scarcely less 
wonderful when, in 1854, against the secret desires of 
a strong Administration, against the wise counsel of 
tlie elder chiefs, against the conservative instincts and 



ORATION ON GARFIELD. 



205 



even the moral sense of the country, he forced a re- 
luctant Congress into a repeal of the Missouri Com- 
promise. Mr. Thadcleus Stevens in his contests from 
1865 to 1868 actuall}^ advanced his parliamentary 
leadership until Congress tied the hands of the Pres- 
dent and governed the country by its own will, leaving 
only perfunctory duties to be discharged by the Ex- 
ecutive. With two hundred millions of patronage in 
his hands at the opening of the contest, aided b}^ the 
active force of Seward in the Cabinet, and the moral 
power of Chase on the Bench, Andrew Johnson could 
not command the support of one-third in either House 
against the parliamentary uprising of which Thaddeus 
Stevens was the animating spirit and the unquestioned 
leader. 

From these three great men Garfield differed 
radically, differed in the quality of his mind, in tem- 
perament, in the form and phase of ambition. He 
could not do what the}' did, but he could do what 
they could not, and in the breadth of his Con res- 
sional work he left that which will longer exert a 
potential influence among men, and which measured 
by the severe test of posthumous criticism, will se- 
cure a more enduring and more enviable fame. 

Those unfamiliar with Garfield's industiy and ignor- 
rant of the details of his work, ma}^, in some degree, 
measure them by the annals of Congress. No one of the 
generation of public men to which he belonged has con- 
tributed so much that will be valuable for future 
reference. His speeches are numerous, many of them 
brilliant, all of them well studied, carefully phrased, 
and exhaustive of the subject under consideration. 
Collected from the scattered pages of ninety ro^^al 
octavo volumes of Congressional Record^ the}^ would 
present an invaluable compendium of the political 



206 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



histoiy of the most important era through which the 
National Government has ever passed. When the 
histor}^ of this period shall be impartially written, 
when war legislation, measures of reconstruction, 
protection of human rights, Amendments to the Con- 
stitution, maintenance of public credit, steps towards 
specie resumption, true theories of revenue may be 
reviewed, unsurrounded by prejudice and discon- 
nected from partisanism, the speeches of Garfield 
will be estimated at their true value, and will be 
found to comprise a vast magazine of fact and argu- 
ment, of clear analysis and sound conclusion. In- 
deed, if no other authority were accessible, his 
speeches in the House of Representatives from De- 
cember, 1863, to June, 1880, would give a well-con- 
nected history and complete defense of the impor- 
tant legislation of the seventeen eventful years that 
constitute his parliamentary life. Far beyond that, 
his speeches would be found to forecast many great 
measures, yet to be completed — measures which he 
knew were bej^ond the public opinion of the hour, 
but which he confidentl}^ believed would secure popu- 
lar approval within the period of his own lifetime, 
and b}^ the aid of his own efforts. 

Differing as GARFiELDdoes, from the brilliant parlia- 
mentary leaders, it is not easy to find his counterpart 
anywhere in the record of American public life. He 
perhaps more nearly resembles Mr. Seward in his 
supreme faith in the all-conquering power of a princi- 
ple. He had the love of learning, and the patient in- 
dustry of investigation, to which John Quincy Adams 
owes his prominence and his Presidency. He had 
some of those ponderous elements of mind which dis- 
tinguished Mr. Webster, and which, indeed, in all 



ORATION ON GARFIELD. 



201 



our public life have left the great Massachusetts Sen- 
ator without an intellectual peer. 

In English Parliamentary history, as in our own, 
the leaders in the House of Commons present points 
of essential difference from Garfield. But some of 
his methods recall the best features in the strong, in- 
dependent course of Sir Robert Peel, and striking re- 
semblances are discernible in that most promising of 
modern conservatives, who died too early for his 
country and his fame, the Lord George Bentinck. He 
had all of Burke's love for the Sublime and the Beau- 
tiful, with, possibly, something of his superabund- 
ance; and in his faith and his magnanimity, in his 
power of statement, in his subtle analj^sis, in his fault- 
less logic, in his love of literature, in his wealth and 
world of illustration, one is reminded of that great 
English statesman of to-day, who, confronted with 
obstacles that would daunt any but the dauntless, re- 
viled b}^ those whom he would relieve as bitterly as 
by those whose supposed rights he is forced to in- 
vade, still labors with serene courage for the amelior- 
ation of Ireland, and for the honor of the English name. 

Garfield's nomination to the Presidency, while not 
predicted or anticipated, was not a surprise to the 
country. His prominence in Congress, his solid 
qualities, his wide reputation, strengthened by his 
then recent election as Senator from Ohio, kept him 
in the public eye as a man occupying the very highest 
rank among those entitled to be called statesmen. 
It was not mere chance that brought him this high 
honor. "We must," says Mr. Emerson, "reckon 
success a constitutional trait. If Eric is in robust 
health and has slept well, and is at the top of his con- 
dition, and thirty years old at his departure from 
Greenland, he will steer west and his ships will reach 



208 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



Newfoundland. But take Eric out and put in a 
stronger and bolder man, and the ships will sail six 
hundred, one thousand, fifteen hundred miles farther 
and reach Labrador and New England. There is no 
chance in results." 

As a candidate, Garfield steadily grew in popular 
favor. He was met with a storm of detraction at the 
very hour of his nomination, and it continued with 
increasing volume and momentum until the close of 
his victorious campaign : 

No might or greatness in mortality- 
Can censure 'scape ; hackwounding calumny 
The whitest vktue strikes. What king so strong 
Can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue ? 

Under it all he was calm, and strong, and confi 
dent ; never lost his self-possession, did no unwise 
act, spoke no hasty, or ill-considered word. Indeed 
nothing in his whole life is more remarkable or more 
creditable than his bearing through those five full 
months of vituperation — a prolonged agony of trial to 
a sensitive man, a constant and cruel draft upon the 
powers of moral endurance. The great mass of these 
unjust imputations passed unnoticed, and with the 
general debris of the campaign fell into oblivion. 
But, in a few instances, the iron entered his soul and 
he died with the injury unforgotten if not unforgiven. 

One aspect of Garfield's candidacy was unprece- 
dented. Never before, in the history of partisan con- 
tests in this country, had a successful Presidential 
candidate spoken freely on passing events and current 
issues. To attempt anything of the kind seemed 
novel, rash, and even desperate. The older class of 
voters recalled the unfortunate Alabama letter, in 
which Mr. Clay was supposed to have signed his po- 
litical death-warrant. They remembered also th'e hot- 



ORATION ON GARFIELD. 



209 



tempered effusion by which General Scott lost a large 
share of his popularity before his nomination, and the 
unfortunate speeches which rapidly consumed the re- 
mainder. The younger voters had seen Mr. Greeley 
in a series of vigorous and original addresses prepar- 
ing the pathway for his own defeat. Unmindful of these 
warnings, unheeding the advice of friends, Garfield 
spoke to large crowds as he journe^'Cd to and from 
New York in August, to a great multitude in that 
cit}", to delegations and deputations of every kind 
that called at Mentor during the summer and autumn. 
With innumerable critics, watchful and eager to catch a 
phrase that might be turned into odium or ridicule, 
or a sentence that might be distorted to his own or 
his partj^'s injury, Garfield did not trip or halt in 
any one of his seventy speeches. This seems all the 
more remarkable, when it is remembered that he did 
not write what he said, and jet spoke with such logical 
consecutiveness of thought, and such admirable pre- 
cision of phrase, as to defy the accident of misreport 
and the malignity of misrepresentation. 

In the beginning of his Presidential life Garfield's 
experience did not yield him pleasure or satisfaction. 
The duties that engross so large a portion of the 
President's time were distasteful to him, and were 
unfavorably contrasted with his legislative work. " I 
have been dealing all these years with ideas," he im- 
patiently exclaimed one day, and here I am dealing 
only with persons. I have been heretofore treating 
of the fundamental principles of government, and 
here I am considering all day whether A or B shall 
be appointed to this or that office." He was earnestly 
seeking some practical way of correcting the evils 
arising from the distribution of overgrown and un- 
wieldy patronage — evils always appreciated and often 



210 



JAMES a. BLAINE. 



discussed by him, but whose magnitude had been 
more deeply impressed upon his mind since his ac- 
cession to the Presidency. Had he lived, a compre- 
hensive improvement in the mode of appointment, 
and in the tenure of office, would have been proposed 
by him, and with the aid of Congress no doubt per- 
fected. 

But, while many of the Executive duties were not 
grateful to him, he was assiduous and conscientious 
in their discharge. From the very outset he exhib- 
ited administrative talent of a high order. He 
grasped the helm of office with the hand of a master. 
In this respect, indeed, he constantly surprised many 
who were most intimately associated with him in the 
Government, and especially those who feared that he 
might be lacking in the executive faculty. His dis- 
position of business was orderly and rapid. His 
power of analysis and his skill in classification ena- 
bled him to dispatch a vast mass of detail with singu- 
lar promptness and ease. His Cabinet meetings were 
admirabl}^ conducted. His clear presentation of 
official subjects, his well-considered suggestion of 
topics on which discussion was invited, his quick de- 
cision when all had been heard, combined to show a 
thoroughness of mental training as rare as his natural 
ability and his facile adaptation to a new and enlarged 
field of labor. 

With perfect comprehension of all the inheritances 
of the war, with a cool calculation of the obstacles in 
his way, impelled always by a generous enthusiasm, 
Garfield conceived that much might be done by his 
Administration towards restoring harmony between 
the different sections of the Union. He was anxious 
to go South and speak to the people. As early as 
April he had ineffectually endea^vored to arrange for 



ORATION ON GARFIELD. 



211 



a trip to Nashville, whither he had been cordially 
invited, and he was again disajjpointed a few weeks 
later to find that he could not go to South Carolina, 
to attend the Centennial Celebration of the victory of 
the Cowpens. But for the autumn he definitely 
counted on being present at three memorable assem- 
blies in the South, the celebration of Yorktown, the 
opening of the Cotton Exposition at Atlanta, and the 
meeting of the Army of the Cumberland at Chatta- 
nooga. He was already turning over in his mind his 
address for each occasion, and the three taken to- 
gether, he said to a friend, gave him the exact scope 
and verge which he needed. At Yorktown, he would 
have before him the associations of a hundred years 
that bound the South and the North in the sacred 
memory of a common danger and a common victory. 
At Atlanta, he would present the material interests 
and the industrial developments which appealed to the 
thrift and independence of every household, and 
which should unite the two sections by the instinct 
of self-interest and self-defense. At Chattanooga, he 
would revive memories of the war only to show that, 
after all its disaster and all its sufiering, the country 
was stronger and greater, the Union rendered indis- 
soluble, and the future, through the agony and blood 
of one generation, made brighter and better for all. 

Garfield's ambition for the success of his Adminis- 
tration was high. With strong caution and conserv- 
atism in his nature, he was in no danger of attempt- 
ing rash experiments or of resorting to the empiri- 
cism of statesmanship. But he believed that renewed 
and closer attention should be given to questions 
afi^ecting the material interests and commercial pros- 
pects of fift}^ millions of people. He believed that 
our continental relations, extensive and undeveloped 



212 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



as they are, involved responsibility, and could be cul- 
tivated into profitable friendship, or be abandoned to 
harmful indifference or lasting enmity. He believed 
with equal confidence, that an essential forerunner to 
a new era of national progress must be a feeling of 
contentment m eyery section ot the Union, and a 
generous belief that the benefits and burdens of gov- 
ernment would be common to all. Himself a con- 
spicuous illustration of what ability and ambition 
may do under republican institutions, he loved his 
- country with a passion of patriotic devotion, and 
every waking thought was given to her advancement. 
He was an American in all his aspirations, and he 
looked to the destiu}^ and influence of the United 
States with the philosophic composure of Jefferson, 
and the demonstrative confidence of John Adams. 

The political events which disturbed the President's 
serenit}^ for man}' weeks before that fateful day in 
Jul}^ form an important chapter in his career, and, in 
his own judgment, involved questions of principle 
and of right which are vitally essential to the Consti- 
tutional administration of the Federal Government. 
It would be out of place here and now to speak the 
language of controvers}^ ; but the events referred to- 
however the}^ ma^^ continue to be a source of conten, 
tion with others, have become, so far as Garfield is 
concerned, as much a matter of history as his heroism 
at Chickamauga or his illustrious service in the 
House. Detail is not needful, and personal antago- 
nism shall not be rekindled by any word uttered to- 
day. The motives of those opposing him are not to 
be here adversel}^ interpreted nor their course harshly 
characterized. But of the dead President this is 
to be said, and said because his own speech is for- 
forever silenced, and he can no more be heard except 



ORATION ON GARFIELD. 



213 



through the fidelity and the love of surviving friends. 
From the beginning to the end of the controversy he 
so much deplored, the President was never for one 
moment, actuated by an}^ motive of gain to himself 
or of loss to others. Least of all men did he harbor 
revenge, rareh' did he even shovr resentment, and 
malice was not in his nature. He was congenially 
employed only in the exchange of good offices and 
the doing of kindl}^ deeds. 

There was not an hour, from the beginning of the 
trouble till the fatal shot entered his bod}^, when the 
President would not gladly, for the sake of restoring 
harmonj^, have retraced any step he had taken if such 
retracing had merely involved consequences personal 
to himself. The pride of consistency, or anj sup- 
posed sense of humiliation that might result from sur- 
rendering his position, had not a feather's weight 
with him. No man was ever less subject to such in- 
fluences from within or from without. But after 
most anxious deliberation and the coolest survey of 
all the circumstances, he solemnly believed that the 
true prerogatives of the Executive were involved in 
the issue which had been raised, and that he would be 
unfaithful to his supreme obligation if he failed to 
maintain, in all their vigor, the Constitutional rights 
and dignities of his great office. He believed this in 
all the convictions of conscience when in sound and 
vigorous health, and he believed it in his suffering 
and prostration in the last conscious thought which 
his wearied mind bestowed on the transitor3^ strug- 
gles of life. 

More than this need not be said. Less than this 
could not be said. Justice to the dead, the highest 
obligation that devolves upon the living, demands the 
declaration that in all the bearings of the subject, 
15 



214 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



actual or possible, the President was content in his 
mind, justified in his conscience, immovable in his 
conclusions. 

The religious element in Garfield's character was 
deep and earnest. In his early ^^outh he espoused 
the faith of the Disciples, a sect of that great Baptist 
Communion, which in different ecclesiastical estab 
lishments is so numerous and so influential through, 
out all parts of the United States. But the broadening 
ing tendenc}^ of his mind and his active spirit of in- 
quir}^ were earty apparent, and carried him beyond 
the dogmas of sect and the restraints of association. 
In selecting a college in which to continue his educa- 
tion he rejected Bethany, though presided over by 
Alexander Campbell, the greatest preacher of his 
church. His reasons were characteristic: first, that 
Bethany' leaned too heavily toward slavery; and, 
second, that being himself a Disciple and the son of 
Disciple parents, he had little acquaintance with peo- 
ple of other beliefs, and he thought it would make him 
more liberal, quoting his own words, both in his reli- 
gious and general views, to go into a new circle and 
be under new influences. 

The liberal tendency which he anticipated as the 
result of wider culture, was fully realized. He was 
emancipated from mere sectarian belief, and with 
eager interest pushed his investigations in the direc- 
tion of modern progressive thought. He followed 
with quickening step in the paths of exploration and 
speculation so fearlessly trodden by Darwin, by Hux- 
ley, b}^ Tyndall, and hy other living scientists of the 
radical and advanced type. His own church, binding 
its disciples b}^ no formulated creed, but accepting 
the Old and New Testaments as the word of God with 
unbiased liberality- of private interpretation, favored, 



ORATION ON GARFIELD. 



215 



if it did not stimulate, the spirit of investigation. 
Its members profess with sincerity, and profess only, 
to be of one mind and one faith with those who im- 
mediately followed the Master, and who were first 
called Christians at Antioch. 

But however high Garfield reasoned of fixed 
fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute," he was never 
separated from the Church of the Disciples in his 
affections and in his associations. For him it held 
the Ark of the Covenant. To him it was the gate of 
Heaven. The world of religious belief is full of sole- 
cisms and contradictions. A philosophic observer 
declares that men b}^ the thousand will die in defense 
of a creed, whose doctrines they do not comprehend 
and whose tenets they habitually violate. It is equalh^ 
true that men by the thousand will cling to church 
organizations with instinctive and undying fidelity, 
when their belief in maturer years is radicalh^ differ- 
ent from that which inspired them as neophj^tes. 

But after this range of speculation, and this lati- 
tude of doubt, Garfield came back always with fresh- 
ness and delight to the simpler instincts of religious 
faith, which, earliest implanted, longest survive, ^ot 
many weeks before his assassination, walking on the 
banks of the Potomac with a friend, and conversing 
on those topics of personal religion concerning which 
noble natures have an unconquerable reserve, he said 
that he found the Lord's Pra3^er and the simple peti- 
tions learned in infancy infinitely restful to him, not 
merely in their stated repetition, but in their casual 
and frequent recall as he went about the daily duties 
of life. Certain texts of scripture had a very strong- 
hold on his memory and his heart. He heard, while 
in Edinburgh some ^^ears ago, an eminent Scotch 
preacher who prefaced his sermon with reading the 



216 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, which 
book had been the subject of careful study with Gar- 
field during all his religious life. He was greatly 
impressed by the elocution of the preacher, and de- 
clared that it had imparted a new and deeper meaning 
to the majestic utterances of St. Paul. He referred 
often in after years to that memorable service, and 
dwelt with exaltation of feeling upon the radiant 
promise and the assured hope with which the great 
apostle of the Gentiles was ^' persuaded that neither 
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor 
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor 
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able 
to separate us from the love of God, which is in 
Christ Jesus our Lord." 

The crowning characteristic of General Garfield's 
religious opinion, as, indeed, of all his opinions, was 
liberality. In all things he had charity. Tolerance 
was of his nature. He respected in others the quali- 
ties which he possessed himself — sincerity of convic- 
tion and frankness of expression. With him the 
inquiry was not so much what a man believes, but 
does he believe it? The lines of his friendship and 
his confidence encircled men of every creed, and men 
of no creed, and to the end of his life, on his ever- 
lengthening list of friends, were to be found the 
names of a pious Catholic priest and of an honest- 
minded and generous-hearted free-thinker. 

On the morning of Saturday, July second, the 
President was a contented and happy man — not in an 
ordinary degree, but joyfully, almost boyishly happy. 
On his way to the railroad station to which he drove 
slowly, in conscious enjoyment of the beautiful 
morning, with an unwonted sense of leisure and a 
keen anticipation of pleasure, his talk was all in the 



ORATION ON GARFIELD. 



21T 



grateful and gratulatory vein. He felt that after four 
months of trial his administration was strong in its 
grasp of affairs, strong in popular favor and destined 
to grow stronger ; that grave difficulties confronting 
him at his inauguration had been safely passed ; that 
trouble lay behind him and not before him ; that he 
was soon to meet the wife whom he loved, now recov- 
ering from an illness which had but lately disquieted 
and at times almost unnerved him ; that he was going 
to his Alma Mater to renew the most cherished asso- 
ciations of his young manhood, and to exchange greet- 
ings with those whose deepening interest had followed 
every step of his upward progress, from the day he 
entered upon his college course until he had attained 
the loftiest elevation in the gift of his countrymen. 

Surely if happiness can ever come from the honors 
or triumphs of this world, on that quiet July morn- 
ing, James A. Garfield may well have been a happy 
man. No foreboding of evil haunted him ; no slight- 
est premonition of danger clouded his sky. His ter- 
rible fate was upon him in an instant. One moment 
he stood erect, strong, confident in the years stretch- 
ing peacefully out before him. The next he lay 
wounded, bleeding, helpless, doomed to weary weeks 
of torture, to silence, and the grave. 

Great in life, he was surpassingly great in death. 
For no cause, in the very frenzy of wantonness and 
wickedness, by the red hand of murder, he was thrust 
from the full tide of this world's interest, from its 
hopes, its aspirations, its victories, into the visible 
presence of death — and he did not quail. Not alone 
for the one short moment in which, stunned and 
dazed, he could give up life, hardly aware of its re- 
linquishment, but through days of deadly languor, 
through weeks of agony, that was not less agony be- 



218 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



cause silently borne, with clear sight and calm cour- 
age, he looked into his open grave. What blight and 
and ruin met his anguished eyes, whose lips may tell 
— what brilliant, broken plans, what baffled, high 
ambitions, what sundering of strong, warm, man- 
hood's friendships, what bitter rendering of sweet 
household ties ! Behind him a proud, expectant 
nation, a great host of sustaining friends, a cherished 
and happy mother, wearing the full, rich honors of 
her early toil and tears ; the wife of his youth, whose 
whole life lay in his ; the little boys not yet emerged 
from childhood's day of frolic ; the fair, young daugh- 
ter ; the sturdy sons just springing into closest com- 
panionhip, claiming every day and every day the re- 
ward of a father's love and care ; and in his heart 
the eager, rejoicing power to meet all demands. Be- 
fore him, desolation and great darkness ! And his 
soul was not shaken. His countrymen were thrilled 
with instant, profound, and universal sympathy. 
Masterful in his mortal weakness, he became the 
centre of a nation's love, enshrined in the prayers of 
a world. But all the love and all the sympathy 
could not share with him his suffering. He trod the 
wine-press alone. With unfaltering front he faced 
death. With unfailing tenderness he took leave of 
life. Above the demoniac hiss of the assassin's bullet 
he heard the voice of God. With simple resignation 
he bowed to the Divine decree. 

As the end drew near, his early craving for the sea 
returned. The stately mansion of power had been to 
him the wearisome hospital of pain, and he begged to 
be taken from its prison walls, from its oppressive, 
stifling air, from its homelessness and its hopelessness. 
Gently, silently, the love of a great people bore the 
pale sufferer to the longed-for healing of the sea, to 



ORATION ON GARFIELD. 



219 



live or to die, as God should will, within sight of its 
heaving billows, within sight of its manifold voices. 
With wan, fevered face tenderly lifted to the cooling 
breeze, he looked out wistfully upon^ the ocean's 
changing wonders ; on its far sails, whitening in the 
morning light ; on its restless waves, rolling shore- 
ward to brake and die beneath the noonday sun ; on 
the red clouds of evening, arching low to the hori- 
zon ; on the serene and shining pathway of the stars. 
Let us think that his dying eyes read a mystic mean- 
ing which only the rapt and parting soul may know. 
Let us believe that in the silence of the receding 
world he heard the great waves breaking on a further 
shore, and felt already upon his wasted brow the 
breath of the eternal morning. 

[The orator on concluding was greeted with most 
hearty applause, in which the whole audience joined.] 

Mr. Blaine is a man of good temper and tempera- 
ment, though with a certain intellectual vehemence 
that might sometimes be mistaken for anger, of strong 
physique, wonderful pgwers of endurance and of re- 
cuperation, of great activity and industry, kindly and 
frank, easily approachable, and ready to aid all good 
causes with tongue, pen and purse. His studies have 
been largely on political questions and political his- 
tory. Everything connected with the development of 
the country interests him, and he is a dangerous an- 
tagonist in any matter of American history — especi- 
ally of the United States since the adoption of the 
National Constitution. He is an intense believer in 
the American Republic, one and indivisible, jealous 
and watchful for her honor, her dignity, and her 
right of eminent domain, ready to brave the wrath of 
the East for the welfare of the West, as in the Chi- 



220 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



nese question ; ready to differ from political friends 
rather than permit the indefinite suspension of the 
writ of habeas corpus ; ready to brave the wrath of 
the Conservatives for the rights of the Southern 
blacks, as in his opposition to President Hayes' 
Southern policy — and perfectly ready to give the 
British lion's mane a tweak when that fine old king 
of beasts crashes too clumsily among our fishing flakes. 

Mr. Blaine's knowledge of facts, dates, events, 
men in history, is not only remarkable, but almost 
unprecedented. In his college days he was noted for 
his early love of American history, and for his inti- 
mate knowledge of its details. That field of reading- 
has been enlarged and cultivated in all his subsequent 
years, until it would be difficult to find a man in the 
United States who can, on the instant, without refer- 
ence to book or note, give so many facts and statis- 
tics relating to our financial and revenue system, to 
our river and harbor improvements, to our public 
lands, to our railway system, to our mines and min- 
erals, to our agricultural interests — in fact, to every- 
thing that constitutes and includes the development, 
achievement, and success of the United States. This 
has been the study of his life, and his memory is an 
encyclopoedia. He remembers because it is easier 
than to forget." 

Although Mr. Blaine had during the fall of 1882 
declared his purpose not to be a candidate for the 
Republican nomination in 1884, his partisans have 
since been as ardent as ever in pushing his canvass 
and keeping his name before the people. Since his 
retirement from the Cabinet, Mr. Blaine has been en- 
gaged in literary pursuits, having written during this 
period his Twenty Years of Congress^ from Lincoln 
to Garfield, 1861 to 188 L Q ^ Q 4 ^1 



r 



0' 



^^^^ c ^ ^ ^ -9 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




013 704 758 5 • 



